White Mage Guide by Valvette

Foreword

This guide is meant to contain my lessons learned throughout playing White Mage on horizon. I don't claim superior experience or expertise and you absolutely don't have to listen to me. Instead, treat this as the collection of notes it is. This game is old and therefore quite "solved", but I'm aware of this and the intention is to help those few who are still trying new things. Besides being a collection of my own notes.

Valvette, August 29th, 2026

About the job

You've come here expecting to learn about healing. And learn about healing you shall. As a White Mage, you'll heal. And heal. And heal some more. And you'll like it. But, the developers did give the White Mage more tools than just restoring HP. Any White Mage worth their salt will cast party-encompassing protective spells, enfeeble, deal substantial damage with divine spells and even, rarely but still notably, provide MP. The weapon of choice for whacking things is the Club and that, coupled with a shield, provides a White Mage with a solid if slow way of holding their own in solo.

Other perks with this job include: free Sneak and Invisible which are tremendous for questing and just clearing content in general and Teleport-spells which can make you quite a bit of cash once acquired.

And besides, the cloth armor in this game looks awesome. Let's get into it!

Magic Skills

Magic Skill	Rank
Healing	A+
Divine	A-
Enhancing	C+
Enfeebling	C

We are a mage job, and the table to the right shows us our rank in the different Magic Skills we have access to. See Skill caps for a per level breakdown.

We can see that we are as good as it's possible to be at healing with an excellent A+. Juicy. We're also the best at Divine Magic among all jobs with our A-, just not quite as good as we are at healing. At enhancing we are second to the Red Mage with a somewhat poor C+ and at enfeebling we are tied with the Dark Knight at last place with a measly C. And this is important because enfeebling is arguably half your job in a party. The other half being healing.

Spells

This is your bread and butter, as expected. You cast spells as most of your game actions when playing after level 10. Here they are.

Healing Magic

Level	Name	Cost	Duration	Recast time	Comment
Single target healing spells. They're all strong and you'll use these a lot. For the heal/MP efficiency, high cap and no +potency is assumed. Cure cast on undead targets will deal light damage, too. (Cure burn parties are a thing - they're fun)
1	Cure	8MP	Instant	5s	What can I say? It's Cure. It's solid even until later levels. Toss it, skill your healing and restore some HP. Caps at 30HP which for 8MP gives 3.75 HP per MP you spend. Cure spells also wake up sleeping allies.
11	Cure II	24MP	Instant	5.5s	With this, you have access to two Cure spells and can chain them a bit better. Caps at 90HP which for 24MP gives 3.75 HP per MP you spend, again.
21	Cure III	56MP	Instant	6s	By the time you get this, you rely on Cure II a lot, and this comes as an expensive panic heal to help out. Very welcome addition to the healing arsenal. Caps at 190HP which for 56MP gives ~3.39 HP per MP you spend, lowest of all Cure spells.
41	Cure IV	88MP	Instant	8s	New strongest Cure. Very welcome addition. Caps at 390HP which for 88MP gives ~4.43 HP per MP you spend, highest yet.
61	Cure V	135MP	Instant	10s	The thing that makes you heal over 50% of even the toughest Galka in one go. The Enmity generation for this is fixed, and check out the Enmity section for the details. You do pay for what you get in MP here, but it's quite cool. Caps at 690HP which for 135MP gives ~5.11 HP per MP you spend, highest yet.
Party-wide healing spells. Situational and very often not MP or hate efficient. The caps for Curaga are Cure #+1, so Curaga has the same as Cure II, Curaga II has the same as Cure III, and so on.
16	Curaga	60MP	Instant	10s	With this, you can heal everyone in the party, gain tons of hate if a monster is alive, and pay precious MP for it. The ideal situation is probably out of combat to top up everyone if they're all healing. At Cap, to reach the MP efficiency of Cure and Cure II, you need to heal for 225HP total. The theoretical cap is 90x6=540HP.
31	Curaga II	120MP	Instant	10.25s	More of the same. To reach the efficiency of Cure III, you have to heal for 407HP. The theoretical cap is 190x6=1140HP.
51	Curaga III	180MP	Instant	10.5s	To reach the efficiency of Cure IV, you have to heal for 798HP. The theoretical cap is 390x6=2340HP.
71	Curaga IV	260MP	Instant	10.75s	To reach the efficiency of Cure V, you have to heal for 1329HP. The theoretical cap is 690x6=4140HP.
Healing over time. Most MP efficient healing in the game is found in this category. You'll love these.
21	Regen	15MP	75s	12s	Really good. Heals for 125HP over 75s, 125HP/15MP=8.334, better efficiency than any cure spell.
44	Regen II	36MP	60s	16s	Now you can have two Regens at once - and you should. 240HP over 60s. 240HP/36MP=9.444, even more efficiency. If there's no need for bigger cures quickly, use this.
66	Regen III	64MP	60s	20s	Three Regens at once! 400HP over 60s. 400HP/64MP=6,25. We're back to lower efficiency, but what can you do? It's good.
Revival spells. Invaluable when the situation calls for it. I never leave home without Reraise on.
25	Raise	150MP	Instant	60s	Your first raise. Revives and restores 50% of Experience lost on dying.
25	Reraise	150MP	1hr	60s	When you die, you can raise yourself. Can save an entire party from having to travel to camp, because you can just raise yourself, then raise everybody.
56	Raise II	150MP	Instant	60s	Recovers 75% of Experience lost. This gets pricy, too. But I suppose no White Mage is entirely complete without it.
56	Reraise II	150MP	1hr	60s	Same effect as Raise II, but as a Reraise.
70	Raise III	150MP	Instant	60s	Recovers 90% of Experience lost. Not as pricy as Raise II, which bothers me.
70	Reraise III	150MP	1hr	60s	Same effect as Raise III, but as a Reraise.

Enfeebling Magic

Level	Name	Cost	Duration	Recast time	Comment
Dia spells. Perhaps the spell you'll cast most often outside Cure-type spells.
3	Dia	7MP	60s	5s	This has the amazing ability of lowering the target's defense by ~5%. Yes. A percentage. So it scales into lategame, basically. It's really, really good. Besides ticking 1 damage per 3s.
36	Dia II	30MP	120s	6s	The tick is now 2 damage/s and defense reduction ~10%.
18	Diaga	12MP	60s	6s	Apply the first level of Dia in an area. I've never once cast this but there might be a use case for it?
The three enfeebling spells outside Dia. Arguably better than Cure-type spells, in the right situation.
4	Paralyze	6MP	2m	10s	Prevents the target from attacking up to 25% of the time. This is perhaps the best enfeeble of all. It's so good, so, so, so good. Get it. Cast it.
13	Slow	15MP	3m	20s	A strong secondary to Paralyze. Instead of preventing attacks it slows them down. Attempt it when you can afford the MP.
15	Silence	16MP	2m	10s	Makes the target unable to cast spells. In Qufim against worms, in Quicksand Caves against Antica, and other places. It's really good when it's needed.

Divine Magic

Level	Name	Cost	Duration	Recast time	Comment
Divine magic. Your tools to deal direct damage, plus an enfeeble. You were never meant to be a damage dealer, so don't expect massive options here.
5	Banish	15MP	Instant	20s	It's big, it's expensive, it has a long cooldown, and will get resisted so it doesn't deal a lot of damage at all at the start. I'm sure it's powerful when Divine Magic skill is capped.
30	Banish II	57MP	Instant	30s	More of the same, but now you have two spells to chain together.
65	Banish III	96MP	Instant	45s	And the third one in the same category. I think you need to get the Banishgas in here to chain properly, given the long cooldowns.
15	Banishga	41MP	Instant	15s	Banish but in an AoE. This one has great potential, I'm sure, and is your real second Divine Magic spell that deals damage. Finnicky to get right, though.
40	Banishga II	120MP	Instant	30s	Similarly finnicky, but more power, which is nice, right?
45	Flash	25MP	12s	45s	This is a stereotypical Paladin spell - but it has uses for you too. Tank casting Utsusemi? Help out with this. You will take a little more hate, but it dissipates very quickly.
50	Holy	100MP	Instant	60s	Big honkin' divine nuke with one full minute cooldown. Get it in between some Banish to blast things.

Enhancing Magic

Level	Name	Cost	Duration	Recast time	Comment
Haste. The only single target enhancing spell you can use on others outside protective magic, and everybody wants it.
40	Haste	40MP	3m	18s	Reduce attack delay and magic recast time by 15%. All, all, all melee DDs want this. Ranged attack users don't benifit. The reduction to magic recast time benefits you, too.
Debuff-removing -na spells. Erase is also here. All of these are very good when you need them.
6	Poisona	8MP	Instant	5s	Removes Poison on an ally. Very useful from Dunes onward, and can be considered a cheap, quick casting Cure, as poison can sometimes tick for 5 or more over a minute's time.
9	Paralyna	12MP	Instant	5s	Removes Paralyze on an ally. Paralyze is one of the strongest debuffs in the game, so removing it is a naturally powerful tool.
14	Blindna	16MP	Instant	10s	Removes Blind on an ally. Another strong debuff that players hate to have on them. This does see use.
19	Silena	24MP	Instant	5s	Removes Silence from an ally. When silenced, casters are reduced to nothing, and /NIN users can't cast Utsusemi. This sees use, too.
29	Cursna	30MP	Instant	10s	Removes Curse from an ally. Less use because Curse is a sparingly used debuff. But because Curse is so powerful, this has its place.
32	Erase	18MP	Instant	15s	The most versatile of debuff-removing spells. Removes one detrimental effect on an ally or self, which can be, for example, Slow or Attack Down or anything else that might happen. The potential is very wide, and checking for Erase targets, evaluating whether it's worth a cast are two delightful pastimes while partying.
34	Viruna	48MP	Instant	5s	Removes Virus effects like Disease and Plague from an ally. Less use because they don't happen very often, but when they do people will be glad you have it.
39	Stona	40MP	Instant	5s	Removes Petrification from an ally, which typically is dodgable anyway. When it's not this is really useful. Or when the dodge fails.
Self-enhancing spells ...and you only cast them on yourself. They're pretty good.
10	Aquaveil	12MP	10m	10s	Reduces the chance that your casting is interrupted by getting hit, by about 20%. If this is the only such effect, you'll go from 0/5 to 1/5 spells go through despite being hit. Could be worth it if you're under pressure, but my gut says that you shouldn't be. Good in soloing situations besides that. There are gear pieces that stack with this, enhancing the viability.
19	Blink	20MP	5m	10s	Gives you two shadows that absorbs 100% of the incoming damage of a direct hit. Activation chance is 70% per shadow. Saves you from the occasional stray hit with decent guarantee. Often very good use of 20MP.
28	Stoneskin	29MP	5m	30s	Absorbs damage taken, a certain value depending on MND and Enhancing magic skill. Similarly to Blink, it's a good use of MP most of the time. See MND Stats for details.
Protection spells of the defense category. You cast these in every party you play.
7	Protect	9MP	30m	5s	The first protection spell available. So, how much does this protect? It adds 10 DEF is the answer. How much damage reduction does that lead to? Tough question. Even this wiki is poor at explaining it. But imagine gear pieces adding 10 more DEF and this does that. To you or target ally.
7	Protectra	9MP	30m	15s	The same except party-wide, saving time and MP.
27	Protect II	28MP	30m	5.25s	Adds 25 DEF. Good improvement.
27	Protectra II	28MP	30m	16s	You'll nearly always prefer the party-wide version.
47	Protect III	46MP	30m	5.5s	Adds 40 DEF. Good improvement.
47	Protectra III	46MP	30m	17s	More of the same stuff.
63	Protect IV	65MP	30m	5.75s	Adds 55 DEF.
63	Protectra IV	65MP	30m	18s	Thank you for reading this.
75	Protectra V	84MP	30m	19s	The last one exists only as -ra form, adding 65 glorious DEF to the party. Very cool.
Protection spells of the magic category. You cast these in every party you play, too.
17	Shell	18MP	30m	5s	Now we protect against magic attacks, and this translates to pure damage reduction: ~9.8%. There are plenty of attacks with magic in them, so this helps out nicely.
17	Shellra	18MP	30m	15s	The party-wide version. You will cast this a lot.
37	Shell II	37MP	30m	5.25s	Damage reduction is ~14.8%. Quite a bit better.
37	Shellra II	37MP	30m	16s	Party-wide yet again.
57	Shell III	56MP	30m	5.5s	Damage reduction is ~19.9%. We see that the improvement is about 5% per Shell level.
57	Shellra III	56MP	30m	17s	Party-wide once more.
68	Shell IV	75MP	30m	5.75s	Damage reduction is ~23.4%. The higher we go, the more each % is worth, so it's tapering off a bit.
68	Shellra IV	75MP	30m	18s	Party-wide once more.
75	Shellra V	93MP	30m	19s	The last one is party-wide only, and provides the glorious 25% magic damage reduction. Very, very good.
Anti-aggro spells. Besides Deodorize, these are absolutely amazing.
15	Deodorize	10MP	Varies	8s	When you get far enough away from a monster, run through water or if it rains, this spell might end the pursuit. How often has that happened to you? Rare use case. I have never cast it.
20	Sneak	15MP	Varies	10s	This, on the other hand, makes you not get detected by enemies that rely on sound. Very, very useful.
25	Invisible	15MP	Varies	10s	This makes you not get detected by enemies that rely on sight. Very, very useful as well.
Barelement spells. Useful. Experience is the best guide, here. When are there big elemental damage hits coming? Elementga spells coming in and you couldn't silence the caster? Use these for those times. The base duration is written here. Enhancing skill increases this by 0.8s per point, giving a maximum of 4 minutes at max skill.
5	Barstonra	12MP	2m30s	10s	I think the Tremors weapon skill is AoE, so maybe against worms? Stonega is the spell to defend against with this.
9	Barwatera	12MP	2m30s	10s	I'm thinking pugils. Maybe sahagin? Or Waterga.
13	Baraera	12MP	2m30s	10s	Nothing comes to mind. Against Garuda Prime? Aeroga.
17	Barfira	12MP	2m30s	10s	Lizard fireball. Goblin bomb toss. Probably Bombs stuff as well. Firaga.
21	Barblizzara	12MP	2m30s	10s	Gigas Ice Roar is ice element damage in a cone. Snolls? Blizzaga.
25	Barthundra	12MP	2m30s	10s	Gigas Thunder Roar is thunder element damage in a cone. Thundaga.
Barstatus spells. Barely useful. They don't protect very well and there's usually a corresponding -na spell (explained in the table above this one) to just remove the effect.
7	Barsleepra	14MP	2m30s	10s	I've used this against Sheep Song and Dream Flower, but honestly the effect is limited. Maybe one or two more partial resists? Cure to wake people up.
10	Barpoisonra	18MP	2m30s	10s	I've tried against Lizard Poison Breath and Venom. Trouble is, they get poisoned anyway, so Poisona is better.
12	Barparalyzra	22MP	2m30s	10s	You could do this if fighting against something with Ice Spikes and no dispel, and that one Dynamis boss fight. Straight Paralyze casts we counter with Paralyna.
18	Barblindra	26MP	2m30s	10s	Black Cloud. And we use Blindna on those affected.
23	Barsilencera	30MP	2m30s	10s	If you get silenced you can't cast spells. If you know it's a danger, keep this up. Echo Drops on hand allows you to break through and cast Silena on others.
39	Barvira	50MP	2m30s	10s	Fun, but I've never seen this in use and never seen it work. Protection against something very rare.
43	Barpetra	40MP	2m30s	10s	More situational, unlikely to ever be used. Baleful Gaze can be countered by looking away, which is good because Stona comes in at level 39 for us.
Teleportation spells. Worth their weight in gold, literally.
36	Teleport-Dem	75MP	Instant	10s	Teleports you and your party to the Crag of Dem.
36	Teleport-Holla	75MP	Instant	10s	Teleports you and your party to the Crag of Holla.
36	Teleport-Mea	75MP	Instant	10s	Teleports you and your party to the Crag of Mea.
38	Teleport-Altep	75MP	Instant	10s	Teleports you and your party to the telepoint crystal in Altepa Desert.
38	Teleport-Yhoat	100MP	Instant	10s	Teleports you and your party to the telepoint crystal in Yhoator Jungle
42	Teleport-Vahzl	100MP	Instant	10s	Teleports you and your party to the telepoint crystal in Xarcabard.

Abilities

Benediction

Learned at Level 1.

This saves everyone and if you're in combat, likely kills you by drawing more enmity than anyone could ever get back from you. You heal everyone within range 14 of you. How much do you heal them? The formula looks like this (we think):

(max HP of target) * (level of WHM) / (level of target)

Assume you're level 15 and you're healing some Galka with 225 HP also at 15, we get that your and the Galka's level cancel out, and you simply heal them for their max HP.

Using this in combat is like saying "I'm now permanently the tank and the enemy has to die before I do." Spoilers: WHM don't tank very well.

Outside of combat, this just heals everyone instantly for the cost of 0 MP. Quite cool.

Divine Seal

Learned at level 15.

A quite versatile little job ability. It has two phases: Pre-Divine Veil and Post-Divine Veil.

Pre-Divine Veil:

• Doubles the potency of your next Cure spell with a 15-minute cooldown. A panic button or MP-saver button. You choose. The real skill involved is remembering when it's ready again. I usually compare to the time left on Protect and Shell and do math. (For example: Okay, 27 minutes left on my Protect buff when I used Divine Seal, that means it should be ready when Protect has 12 minutes left. Remember that. 12 minutes left.)

Post-Divine Veil is the same as regular, with the following additions:

• Your -na spells become party-wide
• Your Regen spells have doubled potency AND double duration, giving a 4x increase to total HP restored.

I tend to use the Regen effect. Double duration and potency is quite nice. Party-wide -na spells save us from effects hitting the entire party. It's not that common, but it does happen.

Devotion

Learned at level 45.

Another relatively strong job ability. This cuts your current by HP 25% and gives that much MP to the target at a cooldown of 10m. Use it at MaxHP for best effect.

So, a MP user in your party can become very happy, once every ten minutes. The two likely targets I've found are SMN and PLD. Perhaps BLU ought to be mentioned here, too. RDMs are rarely used alongside a WHM, BLMs are rarely used in parties overall. In a WHM Cure burn party you can all Devotion each other, which is nice.

Communicate with your target before using it, as everyone, especially PLDs, will pay special attention to managing their MP and you don't want to get in their way.

Don't worry about the HP cut. Maximize it with HP gear if you want. You can Cure that up or just wait for your Auto-Regen to catch up. Nothing of value is lost here.

Traits

We are okay with what we get here, but nothing in here stands out as amazingly powerful, besides maybe Divine Veil.

Level	Trait	Comment
Tierless traits. The ones that do good things.
25	Auto Regen	You now heal yourself at 1HP/3s. We would kill to make this 1MP/3s, but we are White Mages. We don't kill. This is mostly a convenience thing rather than a power thing.
50	Divine Veil	Improves Divine Seal as explained above.
Tiered traits. The ones that do weak things but improve as you level.
15	Clear Mind	Gives MP Recovered While Healing. 3, to be exact. Very nice and you won't notice it.
35	Clear Mind II	Replaces 3 with 6.
45	Clear Mind III	Replaces 6 with 10. I think around here your total MP will have outscaled this, but it's still nice.
55	Clear Mind IV	Replaces 10 with 13.
65	Clear Mind V	Replaces 13 with 17.
75	Clear Mind VI	The final version, 21 more MPH. Not bad at all.
10	Magic Defense Bonus	This gives us more defense against Magic Damage, which is a good thing. This gives 10 MDB, that stacks with Shell.
30	Magic Defense Bonus II	Second version of this trait, and now gives 12 MDB. Not 12 more, replaces 10 with 12.
50	Magic Defense Bonus III	Replaces 12 with 14. I'm thinking the +10 from the first trait is strong, and each subsequent tier is very, very lackluster.
70	Magic Defense Bonus IV	Replaces 14 with 16.

Abridged version

Will be added once the main guide has enough meat to just copy over. Highlight everything by level so a person can know what level they should look for what thing.

Spells & Abilities

Gear

Party play rotation

Mythbusting

It wouldn't be this game if there weren't preconceived notions that were somehow wrong. Here's the myth I'm busting:

Cures II and IV generate more Enmity than the rest for the same amount of HP healed.

They don't.

There are two ways you generate Enmity with Cure.

• Cures I-IV, depending on the level of the target and the amount you heal for. Same numbers across all four Cure spells.
• and Cure V, generating statically. Same amount every cast, never different, no matter what.

This gives us this lovely fact:

A Cure II for 20HP healed on a target generates as much Enmity as a Cure for 20HP on a target with the same level.

Or any Cure equalling any other Cure, as long as the target's level remains the same and as long as they're not Cure V.

And now about the theory behind Enmity: There are two Enmity values, Cumulative Enmity (CE) and Volatile Enmity (VE). Cumulative drops by damage taken, and Volatile drops over time. Provoke is a Volatile Enmity thing, as is our enfeebling magic. Cures I-IV generate both.

Cure V generates 400 CE and 700 VE each cast. No fuss. Just does it. No matter how much it heals. Even when it heals for 1HP. For comparison, Provoke generates 1 CE and 1 800 VE. So you could fit in two clean Cure Vs without worrying about the VE value after a 'voke. But the tank would have to have generated 800 CE in that time or else the target will come after you.

The other Cures care about the level of the target and the amount healed. That's it.

Comparison time!

Q: How much healing from any Cure I-IV spell on a level 75 target generates as much CE as Cure V does?

550HP. You need to heal 550. Cure IV caps at 390, friends. Break out that +Cure Potency. How much do you need? 41%. I don't know if that's even possible.

Q: What about for VE? How much healing from any Cure I-IV spell on a level 75 target generates as much VE as Cure V does?

~160HP. If you heal a level 75 target for 160HP, you've generated as much VE as Cure V does. Cure III does this, in case you're wondering. And VE only goes up as the level goes down, meaning you'll out-generate Cure V with less and less HP healed.

Q: So... how much healing from a Cure I-IV spell on a level 10 target generates as much VE as Cure V, then?

~59HP. So a less than decently powered Cure II when starting the Dunes generates as much hate as Cure V does to a level 75 target.

Conclusion: All Cures draw hate equally besides Cure V and Cure V is somewhat heavy on the CE but very light on the VE, where CE is the kind that you'll have to get hit to reduce, and VE is the kind that disappears over time.

Given that the biggest danger with Cure spells in lower levels is the VE, pausing between heals and keeping a cool head is the play. The hate will dissipate over time.

In the case of CE, there are two ways to avoid continuously getting hit: Getting hit, and having another player generate CE. So sometimes, getting hit is good.

Thank Kaeko we have this information, links to their work is found on the Enmity page, and I plagiarized it heavily in this section.

Race

This is the least impactful of all choices pertaining to your White Mage. Can you play it as Galka and Elvaan, the two races with worst MP pool? Yes, is the answer. What about Hume and Mithra? The ones that get slightly more? Yes. Will a Tarutaru outshine you in the MP pool department before factoring in gear? Also yes, but not by much. The end result is: play whichever race you want.

If you want to optimize everything, get a Tarutaru, but don't assume you can slack off on any other aspect of your character just because of your race: It doesn't matter that much. Let's break it down anyway!

For what it's worth, Race Specific Equipment will make up for the differences between the races. Find them here:

Hume RSE - Legs piece stands out as a +32MP piece.

Galka RSE - Every piece gives substantial MP with Body and Hands giving +32MP each. Crazy.

Elvaan RSE - Hands give +24MP, Feet +20MP, Legs +12MP and Body +4MP

Mithra RSE - Legs piece stands out as a +32MP piece, like for Hume.

Tarutaru RSE - Pfft. You thought you'd get more MP down here. No. You get +MND on the Legs piece and be happy.

A personal note: I can't stress enough how much I like my +32MP from Savage loincloth.

Stat breakdown of each race just starting out as White Mages, level 1.

Hume

HP: 27 MP: 22
STR	DEX	VIT	AGI	INT	MND	CHR
6	5	6	6	6	8	7

Mithra

HP: 27 MP: 22
STR	DEX	VIT	AGI	INT	MND	CHR
6	7	6	7	6	8	6

Elvaan

HP: 29 MP: 20
STR	DEX	VIT	AGI	INT	MND	CHR
7	5	7	5	5	9	7

Galka

HP: 32 MP: 16
STR	DEX	VIT	AGI	INT	MND	CHR
7	5	8	6	6	8	6

Tarutaru

HP: 23 MP: 28
STR	DEX	VIT	AGI	INT	MND	CHR
5	5	6	7	8	8	7

Very interesting stuff. What this tells us is that in the MP-race, the pecking order is as follows:

Tarutaru >> Hume = Mithra > Elvaan >> Galka

Poor galka.

Another important race is, and you'll see why later, the MND race. Which gives us:

Elvaan > Tarutaru = Mithra = Huma = Galka

Huh. Interesting. HP and MND are the two most important numbers, with the MND race being very even and MP cancelled out by gear acquired in the late 20s / early 30s. Okay. What about the other stats? Well, STR, DEX and CHR count for basically nothing. A quick secondary analysis of the other stats gives us:

HP - Useful. You will take hate and suffer damage. Galka > Elvaan > Hume = Mithra >> Tarutaru.

Tarutaru, get some RSE to fight this.

INT - Useful. There are enfeebles (looking at you, Blind) that use INT in their calculation. Tarutaru wins here.

AGI - Arguably useful. A monster might miss you when they otherwise should've hit. If you're evasion-capped. If you accidentally took hate. Might, if, if. Slim chances. Mithra along with Tarutaru win here.

Stats

These are the numbers on gears and effects that we like to see and have. For others it might be STR or Accuracy. For us it's these.

MP

Basic. Simple. Get more of this. Because of the simplicity of the stat and its general availability, most gear pieces you use will give this. If your piece gives MP, that automatically makes it interesting and generally good.

Why it's good is mostly because of you having more MP in your pool will lead to more healing spells cast over the same time period. It'll give you more opportunity to get MP back as well, over time. It's many small additions that end up mattering quite a lot in practice.

MND

Does the following, in order of desirability:

• Cure and Curaga healing:
  • It's part in the calculation that determines "power", which gives two different Cure caps. Being on the second one, that applies when you've reached more "power", has a higher cap and is better. After that, MND combined with Healing Magic Skill to help determine how close to the cap you are.

• Paralyze, Slow, and Flash accuracy, duration, and potency:
  • Paralyze: Each point of MND difference between you and your target adds 0.25% to the base 15% of preventing an attack. The lowest is 5% and highest is 25%, meaning the caps are reached at -40 MND and +40 MND relative to your target. Resisting means either no effect or half duration.
  • Slow: MND determines slow potency according to two formulae: One if the caster has more MND than the target, and one for the other way around. In the former, each point of MND adds 0.2% to the base 14.88% slow effect, to a maximum of 29.2%. There has to be something wrong with the maths here, but that's what this wiki says, so.
  • Flash: No clue what MND does for it. This wiki doesn't specify.

• Stoneskin potency
  • The calculation is complicated but Enhancing Magic gives 1HP per 3 skill levels and MND 2HP or 3HP depending which formula is correct - something we don't know completely.

• Silence accuracy and duration - no clue how or how much for what or anything.
• Banish and Holy damage
• Cure damage, when used on undead
• Increases resistance to White Magic spells as well as reducing base damage taken from them.

INT

Does the following, in order of desirability:

• Blind
  • This is the main reason you like a bonus to your INT when possible. INT is calculated against the target's MND, and increases the accuracy lowered, with the minimum Accuracy Down value at 5 and the maximum at 50, by the following formula:

(Caster INT - Target MND) x 0.225 + 23

• Sleep
  • I figure INT plays a part here. This wiki doesn't confirm it. Elemental Seal is what you use in clutch situations anyway.

• Elemental enfeebles
  • Now we're digging quite deep in the benefits of this. You won't cast these a lot outside soloing, but the stat reduction and damage per tick is based off of your INT total, nothing else.
• Spikes damage
  • Now we're really grasping for straws in what INT does. It adds a slight increase to damage, with Ice and Shock spikes dealing more than Blaze.

Cure Potency

Just the best stat available for a White Mage. It has the largest impact on your number one role - which is restoring HP. It's applied after caps are considered, meaning it's never not useful.

Auto-Refresh

Second best stat, and is more readily available than Cure Potency. The engine of Good Stuff. You'll notice the difference when you have gear pieces that give it, or when you sub SMN at 50, or when a fellow Bard, Corsair or Red Mage bestows it on you.

MP Recovered While Healing

The smaller cousin of Auto-Refresh. It's good, it helps out, it has impact. You still have to rest to get it though. Early game gear offers it, food bestows it. You can add this to your repertoire fairly cheaply.

-Enmity

After around level 50, this becomes staggeringly important. -Enmity works as % reduction to the enmity you generate. -50 Enmity total would equal generating 50% enmity for the same actions. It's really, really good.

Subjobs

Main line

We are talking mostly about the other Mage jobs here. Why? Because the MP of the subjob adds to yours. MP being one of the most sought after stats for you as a White Mage as explained above. You also get access to new spells and you're already in the spell part of town so, might as well shop around.

Black Mage

Pros	Large MP pool.
	Conserve MP. Occasionally saves you MP when casting. The math seems to be 25% proc rate, and reduction between 6.25% and 50%. Even distribution leads to an average of 28% MP cost reduction.
	Sleep. One of the best disables. Elemental seal nearly guarantees a hit.
	Clear mind. More MP when resting. We are actually better at this than Black Mages are so this does nothing.
	Warp, Escape and Tractor. Yum.
	Good INT for that one enfeeble. And it gives that enfeeble too.
	Dark magic Aspir. Requires a bit of skilling, but it's one more tool in the toolbox.
	Elemental enfeebles, among other enfeebles like Bind, If you decide to use them.
Cons	No obvious ones. No additional HP I guess? What, you want everything?

Red Mage

Pros	Large MP pool.
	Fast Cast. You'll occasionally toss out an otherwise long casting Regen very quickly. Yay.
	Dispel. Situational, but invaluable when required.
	Sleep. But later than Black Mage. No Elemental seal.
	Clear mind. But later and worse than Black Mage. Oh wait, both Black Mage and Red Mage are worse than us at this. Nevermind.
	Good INT for that one enfeeble. And it gives that enfeeble too. Gravity as a unique enfeeble. I'm sure it has more than niche use. All other enfeebles /RDM gets later than /BLM would.
	Dark magic Aspir. But worse than Black Mage.
	I guess Phalanx for more defense? A bit late, but... sure?
Cons	Isn't black Mage. There are a lot of things Black Mage just does better. I wish I could type Enfeebling Magic as a pro, but it doesn't help since Red Mage can't buff White Mage past its limit.

Summoner

Pros	Large MP pool. The largest, in fact. Max MP Boost is the formal name for this.
	Auto-refresh at level 50. Yum. Yummy yum. This is enough to put Summoner in the discussion against Red Mage. That's how good this is.
	Blood pacts with summoned Avatars. They'll take a long time and cost quite a bit of MP. But, might be your style, you know?
Cons	Isn't Black Mage. No sleep. No Warp. No Conserve MP. No Dispel. No plethora of enfeebles. You become the whitest of White Mages.

My conclusion is that Black Mage rules. It just does. Red Mage has a place, but you're choosing Dispel over a lot of good stuff. And Summoner arguably has a spot after level 50 with its Auto-refresh. I personally value Summoner slightly over Red Mage, but I've never been in the situation where Dispel was sought after.

Off-beat

Situational things that you can do for more solo-oriented things and a small analysis of what it gives you. I wouldn't seek a party with any of these as my subjob.

Ninja

Pros	Survivability like no other. Utsusemi: Ichi and Ni are just... Unbelievable. Your solo-potential just went up by a factor of a few thousand. It is useful for Black Mage-esque soloing.
	Dual wield. Equip two wands. No grip or staff, but there has to be some situation where this is useful. There always is.
	Second highest evasion in the game second to Thief.
Cons	Isn't any of the mage jobs. So no extra MP. Or extra spells. Nothing substantial to cover up for it.

Blue Mage

Pros	Large MP pool. It's a mage job, yay!
	Resist Sleep for... resisting some sleeps? Properly situational. You can play 1-75 and never encounter a situation where this would've had impact.
Cons	Doesn't do anything that overlaps with what you do as a White Mage. Pollen and Wild Carrot do not outperform Cure.

If you're soloing and want to just survive forever and fight forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever... Have Ninja as your subjob. I bet it can take down surprisingly large things. After a while. Bursting down pet monsters like this ought to work as well. Blue mage is... well. It gives you extra mana. And that's it. What, you leveled that instead of the normal mages and you don't have a better subjob ready?

What are you doing?

Okay, we've gone through the sensible options. Here is what you might expect from really far-fetched ones. We don't level with these. At all. We do some strange other content and hopefully have a blast doing it.

Thief

Pros	Okay, you're obviously farming. Make sure to be 30 for Treasure Hunter.
	Best evasion in the game. It should help out a little at least.
Cons	Not a mage job. Don't party as this. Solo effort stuff.

Warrior

Pros	You get to Provoke now! And Warcry! So you can take damage for sure, not just when you occasionally overheal.
	Oh, and you can Double Attack. Maybe cheesy stuff is possible with an Octave Club here?
Cons	Not a mage job. Don't party as this. Be sure to have a really, really good plan.

Dark Knight

Pros	Stun. There's likely some occasion where this is needed.
	Absorb spells. Fun? And some Black and Dark magic too. Worse than Black Mage.
Cons	Not a mage job. Don't party as this. If it floats your boat then go for it solo, I guess.

Bard

Pros	Songs. But just one. And the Refresh effect comes at the same time as Summoner's Auto-refresh does. Without the MP and Avatars. So no thanks. Paeon does heal for quite a bit in dunes. Maybe give that a go for a few levels?
	Powerful sleep, I suppose. I'm not convinced.
	Resist silence as a trait. Good...? Traits like these usually don't matter much.
Cons	Not a mage job, no MP, illusory goodness with the songs but it won't amount to much.

Paladin

Pros	Undead Killer. Useful if you're doing undead killing in a solo adventure.
	Shield Bash. When meleeing you can stun and interupt things. TP moves usually get used again, but spells don't always.
Cons	Worse at Auto-refresh than Summoner. Worse at surviving than Ninja. It might be possible to do cool things here but I don't see it.

We get what you might expect from subjobs that are too far away from your main job to matter. The outlier is that Bard could convince you it's better than it is. I hope I have dispelled that notion. Honorable mentions:

Puppetmaster - I'm not sure what this would do? I'll be honest and say I don't really understand how the job works, or how it would work as a subjob. The recent addition of PUP and some rumours I've heard has this as better than off-beat. I'll explore this someday.

Beastmaster - Similar to Puppetmaster. What would you do with your charmed monster that's quite a bit worse than it needs to be? White Mage is a great subjob for Beastmaster. Not the other way around.

Dragoon - Now you hit harder. Okay, and then?

Ranger - Wide scan for when the situation calls for it.

Samurai - Meditate for TP and then run in melee and perform a club weapon skill to restore MP. Convoluted. Maybe fun?

Monk - Dodge to dodge and Chakra to self-heal and remove debuffs. Both things we have spells for in Blink, Cure and Erase.

Black Mage Leftovers

Since you've now correctly chosen Black Mage as your subjob, here's a list of things it can do for you that I won't list anywhere else, mostly because it's not technically required for you to function.

• Elemental debuffs - Shock reduces MND which adds accuracy and potency to your MND-based enfeebles
• Spikes
• Drain
• Elemental nukes

Addons

I don't use addons much myself, but I figure a bare-bones list ought to be present in a guide that tries to cover everything that I know. You find these in the Addons list in the HorizonXI launcher.

tTimers - Keep track of Regen and Haste buffs on party members.

targetlines - See who in your party is attacking what. Reduces confusion and guesswork.

distance - See the distance between you and your target. Useful for dodging Area of Effect-abilities and knowing whether you're in cast range quickly.

nameplate - Reduce the size of player names to avoid clutter.

There's supposed to be one where you can see time until your next HP/MP tick when resting. Don't know the name of it, but it sounds useful.

Spell acquisition

Buying from vendor, buying from AH or killing monsters for it. Some spells drop in BCNMs or other special events. Vendor buying gets you very far and check prices on both vendor and AH to prevent being bamboozled. People do like to do this.

Food

Worrying about which food you're bringing is nitty gritty details. I think any I mention here are good enough to see use, and you can absolutely allow gil to be the determining factor. As in, getting the cheapest option. But we do have categories to work from and the playstyle changes slightly.

• Cookies - "I bounce back quickly." food. They give MPH primarily and thus makes you get more per tick on your full MP rests and single-tick rests you sneak in. They stack to 99 and you use them at least each time you want to rest to full MP. More often if you're snacky.
• Pies - "I have a big MP tank for longer chains and over-all better resting" food. Give +MP, +INT and -AGI, generously. Some slightly more pricy options can be found here. Use and reuse when they run out.
• Soups - "I'm rich and good at everything." food. You'll see what I mean. Pricy, long lasting and over-all very impressive. They likely never run out in a party, so it's a true set-and-forget type food.

HQ vs NQ debate: Pick what suits your wallet. HQ can be fun, but that's where the profit lies for the people who cook, so... NQ usually suits just fine.

Food	Effect	Duration	Comment
Cookies. Short duration, add MPH, used to minimize time you need sitting down. Food all come in pairs, NQ and HQ versions. The killer and resist effects are... negligible for all cookies.
Ginger Cookie	MPH+5, Plantoid Killer+10, Resist Slow+10	3m	This is my default recommendation. I think they hover around 2k a stack, making you pay slightly more than 20gil per pop. The MPH is the effect we want here, and +5 is decent for the price. Anyone demanding Wizard Cookies from you is an elitist and I invite you to disregard them.
Wizard Cookie	MPH+7, Plantoid Killer+12, Resist Slow+12	5m	Bump up the price to 10k per stack for +2 MPH? Okay, game. When you need them you need them, I suppose. We do get better duration on HQ versions.
Cinna-cookie	MPH+4, Vermin Killer+10, Resist Poison+10	3m	More difficult to craft, so has a higher price than Ginger Cookies. And are worse. Tough sell.
Coin Cookie	MPH+6, Vermin Killer+12, Resist Poison+12	5m	Same price as Wizard Cookies and do a bit worse.
Acorn Cookie	MPH+3, Aquan Killer+10, Resist Silence+10	3m	Worst NQ, price equalling Cinna-cookies. I don't know why wou'd want these, honestly.
Wild Cookie	MPH+5, Aquan Killer+12, Resist Sleep+10	5m	20k (at the time of writing) for the same MPH as Ginger Cookies? At 10x the price? No sirree, no recommendation from me. This is crazy, to me, and has to be brought about by poor ingredient balance.
Pies. Regular duration, adds +MP and INT mainly. Some are for more fighty jobs and give wildly different stats. I'd say stick to these.
Apple Pie	MP+25, INT+3, AGI-1	30m	My first recommendation for getting your feet wet in WHM food. The MP is welcome, INT doesn't hurt for Blind, and the AGI loss we don't care about. Cheap, available and sweet. ~1k per stack gives you 6 hours of partying with this really quite decent buff.
Apple Pie +1	MP+30, INT+4, MPH+2	60m	Oh dear. MP is better, INT is better, the AGI drop is gone, duration doubled and MPH added? Wow, so what do we pay for that? 10-12k at time of writing. Yeah. Up to 12x the regular price. Duration essentially halves the price, so x6, and it IS better... If I had the money, I'd go for these.
Melon Pie	MP+25, INT+4, AGI-1	30m	So this is more geared toward a BLM with that extra INT, and if you get these while leveling your BLM subjob, don't be shy to use them as WHM if that's what you brought. They are pricier than Apple Pies, though.
Melon Pie +1	MP+30, INT+5, MPH+2	60m	Similarly bumped in power compared to the NQ variant. These are outstanding for a BLM and I'd say it's a waste to use on a WHM, but you do you. They're pricy.
Rolanberry Pie	MP+50, INT+2, AGI-1	30m	If you just want +MP, which we do, and don't really care about the INT, go here. A bit pricier but not much, but the quality speaks for itself. Somehow not as popular and available as the Apple and Melon pies. I'll never know why.
Rolanberry Pie +1	MP+60, INT+3, MPH+1	60m	These would be cool, but they're so hard to HQ you won't see them. You will not. Currently, AH lists 3 stacks sold this year, at 40k a stack.
Soups. Longest duration of all food, adds all kinds of stats and are quite unique. The downsides include their price and the fact that they don't stack. But are you ever needing more than two in a party? I won't.
Mushroom Soup	MP+20, MND+2, MPH+1, Enmity-2, STR-1	3h	You get a little bit of everything in this one. We like MP, MND is a good stat for us that we don't get from other food, and the MPH is welcome. The -Enmity stands out here, as no other food gives it. We don't care about STR drops. It lasts for three hours. Three. Hours. Party up and go to town.
Witch Soup	MP+25, MND+2, MPH+1, Enmity-2, STR-1	4h	HQ version and twice the price (or something) for +5MP and a one hour longer duration. Pass, personally.
Mushroom Stew	MP+40, MND+4, MPH+5, Enmity-4, STR-1	3h	My recommendation. Now we're cooking. This is a hefty one. Large MP buff, large MND buff, very solid MPH buff, unimaginable Enmity reduction for three hours. Priced at 5.5k at time of writing, this is heavy, but I think of all the soups, this is the best choice.
Witch Stew	MP+45, MND+4, MPH+5, Enmity-4, STR-1	4h	And then the HQ version disappoints by adding +5MP, one hour to the duration and +80% or so on the price.
Brain Stew	INT+5, MND+5, DEX+5, HPH+3,MPH+3	3h	Honorable mention. If you absolutely have to hit your enfeebles, including Blind, I'd go here. Nothing gives +5 to both INT and MND besides this. Likely not worth it in party play, but I can see its use and one should be aware this exists.
Sophic Stew	INT+6, MND+6, DEX+6, HPH+3,MPH+3	4h	And you can have +6 to the stats too, if you shell out a bit.

Leveling

All right, the meat of the thing. You've decided you want to play White Mage. Great. Happy to have you. Below you'll find a building-on-what's-before guide on playing the job, with noteworthy changes and things to consider when playing. I recommend cross-referencing this with the gear section below.

1-9

The start is similar to most other jobs in that you do the following:

Melee Skill	Rank
Club	B+
Staff	C+
Shield	D

1. Grab Signet.
2. Take your starter gear and a weapon - I recommend a Club. Get a shield, too. Doesn't slow you down and does give you some stats.
3. Optional: Get a Sanction buff via an Exp Ring or something else.
4. Whack stuff just outside your city. Solo or with a friend. Whack, whack.

To see why I recommend a club, all we have to do is to check the White Mage's melee skill ranks. Moreover, clubs hit faster than staves while dealing just about the same damage per hit. Club gives you Shining Strike which has 20% MND & 20% STR scaling whereas Heavy Swing from staves has 30% STR scaling. So your weapon skill should deal more damage as well. Because we can wear shields we should. It helps out.

Killing many Easy Preys is always going to be faster than killing many Decent challenges or higher. You'll clear more monsters, get more loot, have shorter combats, have less downtime and therefore get more experience per minute.

Where the White Mage differs from other jobs is your available spells:

Level	Spell	Cost	Comment
1	Cure	8MP	Very handy because you are mostly hitting things, mostly using melee. Extra hp recovered before you need to sit does increase the time you can whack before sitting down, and sitting down gives you MP as well, so it's double good. Strategy: It's better to cast it outside of combat to avoid interruptions and more time spent whacking.
3	Dia	7MP	Dubious handiness. It is better to spend your MP on Cures here. The theoretical max is 20 damage which relies on the 60 base duration to run its course. (1 damage/tick (3 seconds) over 60 seconds is 20 damage). You don't want a battle to last a full minute.
4	Paralyze	6MP	Somewhat handy. Before the first half of the 1-10 stretch you have the ability to inflict Paralyze, maybe the best status effect in the game. 25% chance for the enemy to just not take an action. As your MP pool grows and as the damage enemies deal increases, this spell becomes a healing spell in disguise. It's random. And it's great.
5	Banish	15MP	Interesting pickup. You now have a way to skill up Divine magic. For 15 MP, cast time and likely 1-4 damage dealt. Won't be better than Cure for a long time.
7	Protect / Protectra	9MP	Very handy. +10DEF for 30 minutes for 9MP? Sign us up. In looking up how much damage we expect this to reduce, it's apparently hard to say and has many factors. Defense is good, though. And hard to come by outside gear and Protect. The -ra version hits all your party members, which will come in handy later.

10-19

Okay. We are out of the strict soloing zone and you can now turn on your LFP-flag and search for a party. Congratulations!

...While you quite likely continue soloing, unfortunately. Because you get access to Cure II on level 11 for panic heal moments, there is a sentiment that waiting until the White Mage reaches level 11 is a big deal. I disagree with this: you'll spam regular Cure most of your time anyway, but it means players might not invite you as often as they should. There are ways around this problem: You can always add another White Mage or Red Mage or do whatever. It's the first level in the Dunes. Or Ghelsba outpost. Most often Dunes.

With this follows a re-evaluation of the spells listed above. Cure, Dia, Paralyze and Protectra are essential. There are also -na spells well worth acquiring.

Partying basics

Anyway, speaking of partying in the Dunes, here is the outline of how you should play as a White Mage in a party, which will be how you play for the rest of the game. The core remains the same, while the surrounding stuff, the bells and whistles, will change. This is what happens in chronological order:

1. You arrive at the party. Level sync goes up. You cast Protectra and Shellra, Shellra being available from level 17 onwards. Reapply when it expires.
2. Activate your food of choice.
3. Someone pulls - you don't. You cast Dia and Paralyze as the target comes in. Dia always sticks, Paralyze doesn't - don't worry too much about it not sticking. You skill enfeebling this way. Cast in that order. Dia => Paralyze => Cures.
4. Cure the tank when they take a hit. One cure corresponds to slightly less than a hit, but there are parries and misses to cover for this. And off-healers.
5. Remove harmful status effects on allies affected. At level 19, you have access to Poisona, Paralyna, Blindna and Silena.
6. If, and I mean if, you have MP left over - you can attempt to stick Paralyze if it got resisted or attempt Slow. This is a bit of a luxury thing in the Dunes.
7. Rest MP during downtime as soon as you're not casting. Resting gives you MP back every 12 seconds. Ideally you rest once you know the mob is going to die, with no more heals needed, and until the next pulls comes in. Squeezing every bit of time for resting is a crucial White Mage skill. Repeat from Step 3.

If we look at partying from a priority perspective, with descending priority, giving us a so called rotation, we have:

1. Cure the tank. Your first job. You're a healer.
2. Remove harmful status effects on allies. Poison in particular can deal a lot of damage.
3. Cure non-tank allies. Others take a stray hit on occasion. Top them up.
4. Cast Bar-spells when the enemy has some AoE elemental damage you'd like to reduce. This is usually a very good use of time and MP.
5. Cast enfeebles. You do have access to many great enfeebles. Dia for the defense drop and near-100% stick, Paralyze and Slow are basically healing spells. Blind can be thrown in here too. Silence on a monster that can cast spells effectively neutralizes that danger. It's good. Enfeebles are good.
6. Rest for MP. MP is what you need to do your thing.
7. Recast / Reattempt enfeebles. Only when you have full MP and nothing else to do.
8. Nuke with Elemental Magic. You can time this for Magic Bursts during Skillchains. If you have nothing else to do, and if you have the MP to spare, go for it.
9. Activate expired food / expired Dedication effects / Juice. Find some window to do this when nobody needs you to stay alive.
10. Cast Protectra / Shellra when they expire.

In the beginning, you will be stuck in step 1 and 2 for mob after mob after mob - and that's okay. That's what your party is. You'll have to call when you need to rest for MP. Later down the line you and other party members will get tools to achieve that glorious sustain.

You get Divine Seal at level 15 and it's easy to overlook. If your party is going well, just use it to top someone up and save MP once every 15 minutes. If someone almost dies and you have the reaction for it, use it to save them.

New spells you have to get

Level	Spell	Cost	Comment
6	Poison	5MP	Mediocre. Black Mage subjob required. One more enfeeble in the bag. We don't say no to them, although it's low on the priority list. This one doesn't prevent damage, which is our main task, so... Far from perfect. I don't cast this outside solo.
8	Blind	5MP	Useful. Black Mage subjob required. Another enfeeble. This one does prevent damage, so we like it, and use it at the lowest possible priority.
11	Cure II	24MP	Very good. Gives you a nice solid boost to your healing power. To be used in tough moments when you know a single Cure won't be enough only. The reason is that even-numbered cures, 2 and 4, generate more hate for what they do. Or conversely, odd numbered curse generate less hate for what they do.
13	Slow	16MP	Very good. It acts alongside Paralyze as a passive sort of heal, but instead of blocking whole attacks, it slows the frequency of them. Expensive MP-wise during these levels.
14	Bind	?MP	Can be good. Poor person's Sleep. This will, if people pay attention and avoid hitting a bound target, immobilize a target and effectively make it not attack anything outside of ranged or magic attacks. Because of its many limitations and lower duration, it's just worse than sleep, unfortunately. But it has a separate cooldown from sleep. The duration is set randomly so skills and stats won't affect it, for better or worse.
15	Silence	16MP	Very good, if a little situational. If a mob can cast spells, this makes them just, you know, not do that. If a mob can't cast spells, skip this.
17	Shell / Shellra	18MP	Very good. On par with Protect, but for Magic Defense. This one is known, it reduces magic damage taken by ~9.8%. On everyone. Every little bit helps, and this belongs in that category.
19	Blink	20MP	Pretty good. It gives you shadows that absorbs hits for you. Not 100% like some jobs, but still good enough to keep you alive for when you get struck accidentally.
20	Sneak	15MP	Invaluable. Money-wise. Sneak oil is the item used to reach this status effect and that costs money. This one costs MP. Paired with Invisible and you can go to nearly any corner of the world unscathed - and you can help others to do it too! Crazy.

20-24

Around here you'll likely go to Qufim Island. What you can and should bring to the table is Silence, because starting against worms at levels 19-21 ish is very common. And they cast Rasp, Stone, Stonega, all kinds of dreadful stuff. So, Level up your enfeebling, stick your Silence and play normally after that.

The priority order of enfeebling spells is: Silence (if applicable) > Dia > Paralyze > Slow > Blind. It's unlikely you'll cast all these without a Cure in between. If you can make Dia and Paralyze, that's often good enough. If anything is resisted, don't worry about reattempting. One attempt is good enough.

Regen gets a special mention in your spell rotation:

1. Heal the tank. Your first job. You're a healer.
2. Apply Regen to the tank. Will help out how much healing you'll have to do. This is an MP conservation strategy.
3. Remove harmful status effects on allies. Poison in particular can deal a lot of damage.
4. Apply Regen to non-tank allies. Everyone will take damage sometime. You've cured them. Now you have a new tool - Regen them.
5. Cure non-tank allies. Others take a stray hit on occasion. Top them up.
6. Rest of rotation continues as normal.

Don't forget Divine Seal as an option. You have it every 15 minutes.

New spells you have to get

Level	Spell	Cost	Comment
20	Bio	?MP	Black Mage subjob required. An alternative to Dia. Replaces Dia, actually. This is a back-up thing. Very, very occasionally people will ask for it and you should have it ready. It offers a damaging tick and a 5% reduction to the target's attack. Since the objective most of the time is to kill quickly, the defense reduction of Dia is preferred, and they overwrite each other, this won't be used every day. Get it anyway.
21	Cure III	56MP	Next tier Cure. You'll always get these when one presents itself. WHM gets it earlier than everyone else. It's kind of our thing.
21	Regen	15MP	Healing over time. In terms of HP recovered for MP spent, this is better than all Cures.

25-29

One usually travels to Kazham for these levels. Mandragora and Goblins are the name of the game and for the Dream Flower TP move keep Cure handy - it wakes people up. For Bomb Toss keep Barfira up. It'll save a Cure or so on everyone affected, for almost no cost.

You'll use mostly the same tools as given in the last section, with the new additions being Protect II and Stoneskin. I like Stoneskin myself but you can technically get by without casting it. Sometimes mine wears off because of duration and that's completely expected.

New spells you have to get

Level	Spell	Cost	Comment
25	Invisible	15MP	Completes the Sneak/Invisible set. This protects against sight and at just level 25 you can travel nearly anywhere and take anyone with you, without fear of being slaughtered.
25	Raise	150MP	Make someone dead be not so dead. They'll be resurrected sick, but will be fine after that.
25	Reraise	150MP	Same as raise but on yourself as a buff, to be used when you accidentally get K.Od. When you die, you'll get a prompt asking you if you'd rather be alive. Be sure you're in a safe area before accepting, just like any raise.
27	Protect II / Protectra II	?MP	More of the same as before. It's a little pricy to keep up with these, but they're worth it.
28	Stoneskin	?MP	You don't have to have to have this, but when you use it when you need it, you'll be glad you do.

30-39

These levels have more of the same. Your gear options will open up, as will camp locations and party composition. You'll have your tools needed for the next little while, so no massive new surprises gameplay wise. Go to different spots, learn what you can and can't get away with. You get a very good working knowledge of what TP moves deal damage and don't to what kind of tank if you pay attention. There are a lot of details to learn so get to it.

New spells you have to get

Level	Spell	Cost	Comment
30	Banish II	?MP	Continuing with the Banish line is a choice starting here. Get the first one at least. Then decide here how you want to approach acquiring them all.
31	Curaga II	?MP	Similar to Banish, continuing with the Curaga line is a choice. Get the first one, then decide if you want more. I won't list more spells that I consider optional.
32	Erase	?MP	It's possible you've been staring at the debuffs not covered by your -na spells that you'd like to save your party members from. This one saves them from those. It's good.
34	Warp	?MP	Black Mage subjob required. This is a beauty. Quested, find details below. You go out to some crazy party spot and you want to get home. You warp. No warp cudgels, no running home, just... a quick spell and you are where you want to be: Near a Mog house and the Auction house. Unrestricted goodness from this spell.
36	Teleport-Dem	?MP	I love these things. You quest them, and you can find links below to said quests. Get this and the others and earn money as a tele-taxi.
36	Teleport-Holla	?MP	Taxi taxi.
36	Teleport-Mea	?MP	More taxi.
37	Shell II / Shellra II	?MP	Similar to the protect line, you need these spells and they get a bit pricy, so watch out.
38	Teleport-Altep	?MP	Taxi to the desert. Think Push it to the limit.
38	Teleport-Yhoat	?MP	This one has a notoriously difficult quest. Just keep killing them lizzies. It drops eventually.

40-49

Mixing in Haste in your rotation now. It's below enfeebling but above nuking in usefulness. You're supposed to help others deal damage, not deal damage yourself. Below enfeebling in priority puts it at the last thing you do before you rest for MP when everything is said and done. And at the hefty price of 40MP, you get to decide yourself whether 3 minutes of +5% attack speed on anyone is worth it. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it's not. The dream is to have everyone who needs it buffed with it, but that's only rarely possible, sadly.

• Melee jobs like Warrior Monk Samurai Blue Mage Thief Dark Knight Ninja Dragoon Paladin - They all love it.
• Mage jobs like yourself, Red Mage Black Mage Summoner can take it, but you won't party with them that often.
• Ranged, pet and support jobs like Ranger Beastmaster Puppetmaster Corsair Bard kinda sorta basically don't need it. So don't worry about them.

New spells you have to get

Level	Spell	Cost	Comment
40	Sleep	40MP	Black Mage subjob required. A utility enfeeble to help in emergencies. Very good. Get it.
40	Haste	40MP	5% faster attacks and cast to yourself or a party member. It's a bit luxury, but it's good. Everyone wants it if you can spare it.
41	Cure IV	?MP	Better Cure, you have to get it.
42	Teleport-Vahzl	?MP	The last of the teleports. Still as questable, still gives cash for the same reasons as the others did. Can't recommend it enough.
44	Regen II	?MP	Finally a way to stagger-cast Regen effects. This one doesn't last as long but heals more per tick and more total. Still more MP efficient than any Cure spell you have.
45	Flash	?MP	This is more utility and we're dipping into Paladin's territory. Use it when the next hit needs to not hit, such as when a tank is casting a spell. Cures or Ninjutsu is the common situation. Be careful with this as it does give you enmity, but it tapers off quickly.
47	Protect III / Protectra III	?MP	More of these. Get them.

50-60

Here we have mostly new things in terms of limit break quests if it's your first job, AF armor and Elemental Staves.

I've listed the AF stuff further down, so go check that out. It is a good set and you should get it and wear it. You'll see how long they last in the gear sections below.

Limit break quests are soloable when you have to running around sneaked and invisible and touching stuff. It's not soloable in the run past true sight beastmen and delving deep into Castle Oztroja. It's basically not soloable in the fighting stuff either. If I were to do limit breaks again and really really wanted to solo them I'd sub ninja and get the hardest hitting club I could find. Between stoneskin, aquaveil, spikes, enfeebles, shadows and heals you stand a decent change to be the last to tap out, even if the fights take 30 minutes. Otherwise, shout or linkshell your way to some help and you can heal and buff the people involved and it's a breeze.

The elemental staves are a must have. I list them in the gear section, with an explanation of why. They're level 51 and you should construct macros for them. That's how good they are.

Parties tend to get a little more streamlined around here. 50 is Auto-Refresh if you decide to sub Summoner, which is a delight.

New spells you have to get

Level	Spell	Cost	Comment
50	Aspir	?MP	Black Mage subjob required. A bit gimmicky, this quested spell drains the target's MP and gives it to you. It depends on Dark magic skill and has a hefty cooldown. Because this does restore MP for you, it is very valuable to get in whenever you have a cast left over for it.
50	Tractor	?MP	Black Mage subjob required. This is on the rarely-used side but because it's utility I say get it. It moves a KO'd character closer to you for Raise purposes. You could technically drag people through dangerous spaces this way, supposing you won't aggro the things around you. Shenanigans. Fun.
50	Holy	100MP	You don't have to get this, really. But it's a nuke! Holy nuke! I like it too much not to have, and it is fun.
56	Raise II / Reraise II	?MP	This improvement restores more EXP from a downed character. AH price tends to be a bit steep on this one, and it doesn't improve anything besides the EXP.
57	Shell III / Shellra III	?MP	More of the same. Get it.
58	Escape	?MP	Black Mage subjob required. This one does see use, particularly in Eco-Warrior quests. You teleport a party outside a dungeon if inside one. Very cool. Get it.

60-70

New spells you have to get

Level	Spell	Cost	Comment
61	Cure V	?MP	Another Cure. Get it.
62	Sleepga	?MP	Black Mage subjob required. One more sleep for you. It will hit in an area, so requires a bit of finesse. The upside is that it doesn't share a cooldown with regular sleep, so you could chain them if you had to. Elemental Seal is the use here.
63	Protect IV / Protectra IV	?MP	More party wide protection, and not that long ago you got the last Shellra. It's good and beautiful.
66	Regen III	?MP	How about keeping three Regen spells up at once? You can do that now.
68	Shell IV / Shellra IV	?MP	And party wide spell protection once more.

70-75

New spells you have to get

Level	Spell	Cost	Comment
70	Raise III / Reraise III	?MP	More EXP returned, I think it's 90% of what's lost. At higher levels it starts to matter. Probably pricy.
75	Protectra V	?MP	Last protective spells and used to be merit only. Have fun with the amazing animation.
75	Shellra V	?MP	Similar to the other one. Your party is very protected and shelled with these two on.

Strategy

This section is all about how to deal with specific scenarios that tend to crop up.

• Links: Nobody wants this to happen, but it does happen. After level 40, you can aid by Elemental Seal + Sleeping the extra target. In a pinch, regular Sleep is an attempt, too, but I don't think I've succeeded much outside of Elemental Seal. This rounds out with Sleepga access, as well. Bind is another option in this, but it's weaker and less reliable in that people tend to be less wary of breaking it.

• Curaga use: If you can fit in more than 2.5 x your current per-person cure amount, it will be more MP efficient than curing separately. Let's say 3. If 3 or more people have yellow health or below, use an appropriate Curaga to deal with it. Be wary with the Enmity generated: You are, in effect, healing for a LOT at once.

• Spikes: In a solo situation, Shock Spikes and Ice Spikes deal the most damage back. Ice Spikes get short-lasting paralyzes in on the enemy, though. So, either is fine, but Shock Spikes are to be preferred in pure solo situations, because you'll stick a Paralyze on the target yourself. If you don't have the patience to Paralyze all your targets, Ice Spikes are superior.

• Solo strategies:
  • Self buffs
    • Haste: This is to add 5% to your cast rate. It adds up.
    • Stoneskin: I find this is useful mostly to start the combat. It does prevent damage and makes casts go through. Reapplying it in a fight is rarely my jam because it takes too long.
    • Regen: This is easier to get through than Stoneskin, but still harder than a cure. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
    • Aquaveil: This adds a modest improvement to casting through getting hit. It lasts long enough and performs well enough that you should just have it.
    • Your choice of spikes.
    • Reraise: Don't leave home without it.
    • Blink: Start combat with it. It'll remove two hits. It's not possible to cherry-pick which hit will be removed, and therefore I would avoid recasting it in combat.
  • Enfeebles
    • Dia/Bio: If you hit stuff, you'll want Dia. If you're getting hit, you'll want Bio. Dia is meant to kill faster and Bio is meant to make you beat something you otherwise couldn't beat.
    • Paralyze: We've been over this. It's great.
    • Slow: Great, too.
    • Blind: In solo situations, this is pretty great.
    • Silence: In case you need it.
    • Shock: Reduces MND on the target and deals damage. If you need help with landing Paralyze/Slow, get this.
    • Choke/Burn: These stack with Shock. If you want to maximize damage over time and stat reduction, this is the triplet I'd recommend.
    • Poison: Similar to the elemental enfeebles. This one doesn't improve as you level, unfortunately. If the time to set up the elemental enfeeble triplet is worth it, casting this should be worth it, too.

Gear

General strategy

Cure potency is by far the best stat. It comes in after all other calculations and caps have been done, so it just expands on how much you can cure. Invaluable. It's also rare so grab it when you can take it.

Auto-refresh is a close second. This contributes to you recovering as much as you spend and never needing downtime - where needing downtime is the enemy of fun and progress.

In the later half of the game (maybe after level 50 and beyond), -enmity starts to play a role. It is arguably more important than MP while healing, but it's going to be close either way. It's a rare stat to find, so consider picking it up on pieces where it is available.

MP while healing is similar to Auto-Refresh, but it only happens when you actively rest and can't do anything else. Still good. Still valuable. Shortens rest time, as one would expect.

MP is a solid choice just about always. You have as much gas in the tank as you have MP. Bigger chain when you don't recover as much as you spend. Bigger margin for big spending when you do recover as much as you spend. You recover more MP when resting the more MP you have - technically, as you can rest for longer accumulating a larger bonus, resulting in more MP per second the longer you sit for. This length is governed by your total MP pool.

MND helps with sticking enfeebles, which is what you do at the start of each fight or when you don't have anyone to heal and have a decent supply of MP.

INT helps with sticking an enfeeble, which helps out.

HP makes you less killable when you're in danger.

AGI and evasion makes you less killable when you're in danger.

VIT gives you more HP which makes you, somewhat at least, less killable.

We get the following priority.

Cure potency > Auto-Refresh > -Enmity ~= MP while healing > MP >>> MND > INT >>> HP = AGI = VIT

You'll find the above strategy in the item list below. There's also a small comment as needed to evaluate each piece.

Gear by slot and level

I'll be honest. We White Mages aren't very gear-dependent while leveling. There are a few key pieces here and there, and you'll see them. But besides the Elemental Staves, our Artifact Armor and Refresh gear you don't need that much. Meaning the bulk of our money should go to spells, and you spend whatever you have left over here. Going a budget route (which I'm an extreme fan of), is absolutely legitimate.

Nevertheless, here is what I think you should consider getting while leveling. Must haves are bolded, everything else is to show you what your choices are and how I navigate them.

NQ vs HQ: Splurge if you think it's worth it. Check the price. Often it's about +2MP or +1MND, making small differences here and there. If you want the perfect of the perfect, do it, otherwise go NQ all the way.

Main hand

Level	Name	Stats	Comment
1	Maple Wand	DMG: 3 INT+1 MND+1	Standard thing. Beats Onion Rod by giving stats.
5	Bronze Hammer	DMG: 9	For the whackos out there. If you want to hit harder while soloing, this does the trick. Not needed, really. For soloing, get the best-damaging club you can equip for your level.
9	Willow Wand	DMG: 5 INT+2 MND+2	The second iteration of the INT MND wands. What these could be used for is a swap-in for enfeebles to hit. I didn't do that but it's something that can be done. The HQ versions do give an extra of each stat, and if you have the budget, I'd say go for it.
10	Pilgrim's Wand	DMG: 6 MPH+2	Simple to get by killing a level 10 NM. MPH is rare at this level, and I would swap it in while resting. In leveling, Staffs do a much better job when you're not sitting.
10	Legionnaire's Staff	MP+6 HP+6	This is what we're looking for in a main hand from now on. MP. Legionnaire's, Freesword's, any of the upgrades, whichever you think is fair. Get one that gives 6 MP or better and use it, basically until your Artifact Weapon.
18	Yew Wand	DMG: 7 INT+3 MND+3	The third iteration of the INT MND wands. An extra point to land an enfeeble when you cast might work in your favor. HQ variant gives +4 to both.
32	Chestnut Wand	DMG: 10 INT+4 MND+4	The fourth iteration of the INT MND wands. HQ variant gives +5 to both.
38	Holy Maul	DMG: 31 MND+2 +3 Additional effect: Light damage	This isn't a partying piece, this is a whacky piece. And god, is it beautiful. Hits hard, additional damage that we're good at, and gives us MND to boot.
40	Blessed Hammer	DMG: 31 MP+10 MND+2 MPH+3	Artifact weapon. This does muscle out staves for a brief 11 levels and I used it to 51. Does better than okay in whacky situations, too.
48	Rose Wand	DMG: 14 INT+5 MND+5	The fifth iteration of the INT MND wands. HQ variant gives +5 to both. The last one I will list, because it will get replaced by better stuff.
50	Lilith's Rod	DMG: 19 MP +10 INT +5 Additional effect: MP Drain	I don't even know what to say. The page for it says the Additional effect triggers often, 20-30% of hits, and steals up to 25MP per hit. Picture this. You could play with a harder hitting thing until you get low on MP. Finish with a TP move, then swap to this. Whack yourself up to decent MP, swap back, then repeat. This is Bloody Bolts but for MP, for a whacky White Mage. This might be relevant for a Maat fight strategy. On paper, this seems absurdly strong.
Elemental staves. I got all of these. And then I found out they're all good, basically. They impact notable spells and can last you to 75 just fine. HQ versions give +1 to all the stats the NQ give, and more resistance. The hidden effect to improve spells is 10% for NQ and 15% for HQ, so that's the real reason people get HQ versions. While leveling, NQ ones do just fine. Having the opposite elemental staff equipped to what you're casting suffers a hidden 10% penalty - so be careful here. I rank these as: Light = Dark >> Ice > Earth >> Wind > Water = Fire = Thunder
51	Light Staff	DMG: 30 STR+1 DEX+1 VIT+1 AGI+1 INT+1 MND+1 CHR+1 Resistance to Dark +15 Cure Potency+10% Additional Effect: Light Damage	The first and arguably the most important of the Elemental Staves. The cure potency is what we're after. When you cast any Cure spell - swap this in. We also get a benefit to our Divine Magic spells. And Dia.
51	Dark Staff	DMG: 30 STR+1 DEX+1 VIT+1 AGI+1 INT+1 MND+1 CHR+1 Resistance to Light +15 MPH+10 Additional Effect: Darkness Damage	The second and still arguably the most important of the Elemental Staves. The MPH is strong in this one. Swap it in when you rest for MP. This combined with our Calm Mind trait gives us MPH+20. Using one slot. It's terrific. Helps with Aspir/Drain.
51	Ice Staff	DMG: 30 INT+4 Resistance to Wind +15 Elemental Magic Skill+10 Additional Effect: Ice Damage	Definitely second to the first two Elemental Staves, but hear me out on this one. Paralyze is Ice element. This staff helps land Paralyze. That's all I want it for. And then it gives INT for other enfeebles. Sure, we have wands for that, but we can't juggle infinitely many pieces all the time.
51	Earth Staff	DMG: 30 VIT+4 Resistance to Thunder +15 Physical Damage Taken-20% Additional Effect: Earth Damage	We are beyond the must-haves, but these are so good I say get them anyway. This one helps land Slow, which is what I want it for. In solo situations it makes you take 20% less melee damage which is substantial. You don't have to get it, but you'll slow better if you do. And you want to slow, right?
51	Wind Staff	DMG: 30 AGI+4 Resistance to Earth +15 Evasion+10 Additional Effect: Wind Damage	This one helps landing Silence which absolutely has a purpose. After that you get AGI and Evasion for situations when you get hit? Skippable but fun.
51	Water Staff	DMG: 30 MND+4 Resistance to Fire +15 Divine Magic Skill+10 Additional Effect: Water Damage	We don't have a specific spell in mind - but a whole school! Sadly it's Divine Magic, but we take it. Gives MND too. Doesn't have an enfeeble associated with it, which is a shame.
51	Fire Staff	DMG: 30 STR+4 Resistance to Ice +15 Attack+10 Ranged Attack+10 Additional Effect: Fire Damage	No enfeeble this one helps you with either. This one is for flair. In solo, if you want to hit harder with your staff, do it. I have this for my BLM mostly. I see RNGs swap it in for the Ranged Attack which I think is funny.
51	Thunder Staff	DMG: 30 DEX+4 Resistance to Water +15 Critical Hit Rate+15% Additional Effect: Lightning Damage	More flair. Critical hit rate does so little for us, or for any staff user in melee. Good for Black Mages and that's it. Completely skippable.
59	Dominion Mace	DMG: 34 MND +7 Additional effect: Restores HP	Very, very interesting piece. Good damage, excellent MND. I'll do research on the Additional Effect, so far all I know is that it triggers a lot more on Lightsday.
65	Darksteel Maul	DMG: 46 Attack+10	Ooh, boy. Here we have a big one for the whackies. I'll be taking this to my Maat fight. And to when I need to solo things. This is large enough that other jobs would like to use it, but can't.
TODO: Remaining end-game weaponry

Off-hand

Level	Name	Stats	Type	Comment
Shields. These don't really play a role in a partying context, so this is for the party-seeking, time-killing whacking White Mage, or for optimizing for soloing content. Interestingly, I found content to read and choices to make about this, so it's not entirely simple. I rank shield types as: Kite > Round > Buckler.
1	Lauan Shield	DEF: 1	Round (40% Base damage reduction / 40% Base block rate)	This starts off the Wooden Round Shield (trademarked term) series. The improvement as you progress is exactly +1 DEF each time, with HQs giving +1 DEF as well. If you have nothing better, I guess you can use these.
8	Maple Shield	DEF: 2	Round (40% Base damage reduction / 40% Base block rate)	Wooden Round Shield second entry.
9	Parana Shield	DEF: 2 +4	Round (40% Base damage reduction / 40% Base block rate)	Adds a Resistance to Ice effect, which seems fun? Easy drop off of a low-level Yagudo NM. It has a bigger cousing in the Frost Shield that looks really boring.
13	Elm Shield	DEF: 3	Round (40% Base damage reduction / 40% Base block rate)	Wooden Round Shield Third entry.
20	Mahogany Shield	DEF: 3	Round (40% Base damage reduction / 40% Base block rate)	Wooden Round Shield Fourth entry.
30	Flat Shield	DEF: 0 INT+1 MND+1 MPH+2	Round (40% Base damage reduction / 40% Base block rate)	First interesting shield. It has no defense (???), but it gives stats we like. Quested and requires a Fishing skill of 30. I guess you could bring this to a party for some extra min-maxing, too?
30	Mercenary's Targe	DEF: 6 Latent Effect: HP+5 MP+10	Buckler (20% Base damage reduction / 55% Base block rate)	First in the array of Latent Effect Bucklers (more trademarked terms). This one requires a subjob as Warrior to do its thing. So we're in whacking territory. And for that, honestly, this isn't terrible. You trade 15 levels of Black Mage for Warrior, which helps in the whacking anyway, while getting a sweet +10MP.
30	Wizard's Shield	DEF: 6 Latent Effect: STR+2	Buckler (20% Base damage reduction / 55% Base block rate)	Another Latent Effect Buckler. This one when Black Mage is your subjob. It is your preferred subjob most of the time, and you get a little bit better at whacking for it.
30	Tortoise Shield	INT+1 MND+1 In areas under own nation's control: Converts 15 HP to MP	Buckler (20% Base damage reduction / 55% Base block rate)	You get this from an NM in Pashhow Marshlands. We like just about everything this thing gives and would look into getting it if I were to level again and had easy access to it. No DEF, but what are you going to do?
36	Oak Shield	DEF: 6	Round (40% Base damage reduction / 40% Base block rate)	Wooden Round Shield Fifth entry. Just so we don't forget they exist.
40	Light Buckler	DEF: 6 Shield Skill+5	Buckler (20% Base damage reduction / 55% Base block rate)	If you somehow need your shield to do tons and tons of work for you, get this. I think it's fun enough to think about, but it's not necessary in any respect.
40	Strike Shield	DEF: 6 Attack+6	Round (40% Base damage reduction / 40% Base block rate)	This is truly interesting. Comes around when your AF weapon does, and this should make you fairly solid in whacking things. Attack is a thing the soloing White Mage lacks, so this definitely helps.
43	Royal Squire's Shield +2	DEF: 9 In areas under own nation's control: HP+8 MP+8	Round (40% Base damage reduction / 40% Base block rate)	This one can be bought for Conquest Points and upgraded and such, meaning it shouldn't be too hard to get. The condition is a little messy, but +8MP while giving DEF is not a bad deal.
45	Viking Shield	DEF: 8 Attack+12	Round (40% Base damage reduction / 40% Base block rate)	Dear me. An upgrade to the Strike Shield and so soon, too? I think I'll bring this to my Maat fight and see what it can do for me there. If I whacked regularly, I'd be getting myself one of these.
50	Holy Shield	DEF: 13 HP+10 MP+10 MND+1	Kite (50% Base damage reduction / 45% Base block rate)	Oh, wow. Beautiful. Solid HP and MP bonuses without conditions, and a sweet MND+1 to top it off. Kite shield to boot. This and the HQ version might be my favorite WHM shield. Only WHM can use it too. It was made for us!
68	Astral Aspis	DEF: 3 AGI +3 INT +3 -5 +5 +5 Converts 25 HP to MP	Buckler (20% Base damage reduction / 55% Base block rate)	This one gives the most MP out of any shield and it doesn't perform that much better in the other stat categories. Worth mentioning because I did look at it and had to think about it. I'd still just play with a Holy Shield, to be honest with you.

The quick gearing strategy here is as follow.

• Pre AF: +MP > DEF. MND/INT on all slots that don't give MP.
• Post AF: AF set. It can take you to 75, honestly, but there are some small improvements to note.

We have some sets in the game that reappear throughout this list. If you want a quick way to check them out, here they are.

Head

Name	Comment
Baron's Saio Set	Pricy and over-the-top, optional.
Seer's Tunic Set	Mostly Black Mage oriented but we can use a few pieces.
Savage Armor Set	Designed to compensate for Mithra disadvantages. Two pieces stand out here as really good for us.
Healer's Attire Set	Our AF armor. Very strong.
Noble's Tunic Set	A post AF set that attempts to replace it. Some pieces are worth it.
Blessed Bliaut Set	Another post AF set that competes with AF and does so handily.
Errant Houppelande Set	I'll write more here when I know more.

Head

Level	Name	Stats	Comment
Headgear. One of the Big Five, as in Head, Body, Hands, Legs and Feet. The slots we get AF for. Here we mostly find +MP gear in different constellations. Some bonuses to INT and MND show up, and special pieces stand out as really amazing. There are Body pieces that remove this slot, which means that piece has to make up for the stats (MP) you could've otherwise have had. So whenever you evaluate a head piece (or a body piece) it's useful to compare your stat total.
1	Copper Hairpin	HP -2 MP +5	Simple, stable. 2HP is way less than 5MP of a Cure is. 5MP isn't enough for a Cure, so it's kind of a moot point. Whatever, it all adds up.
6	Traveler's Hat	DEF: 3 MND +1	Lose MP but get MND? Up to you. You could theoretically start here to macro this in for your Paralyze cast. Decent soloing piece because it gives DEF.
10	Brass Hairpin	HP -4 MP +10	Second iteration of the lose-HP-gain-MP hairpins. I used Hairpins all the way to AF and that worked fine for me. Now the analogy works: 10MP pays for an additional Cure easily. Your cures heal something like 20HP at this point - and you're giving up just 4HP to use it. This thing is worth it, every time. Some Tarutarus might die a bit more often but that's life.
20	Silver Hairpin	HP -6 MP +15	And the pattern is revealed. It's 2 more HP lost for 5 more HP gained per iteration. This is number three.
20	Baron's Chapeau	DEF: 8 INT +2 Enmity +2	Included just to make you feel certain in that I've done my homework. This is popular among lower level casters and a bit of a brag-set. It gives us INT so we could swap this in during a Blind cast - that's all. And it's pricy as heck. Completely skippable.
29	Seer's Crown	DEF: 4 INT +2	Ah, the Seer's set. A favorite among casters, specifically Black Mages. But we like this too. A swap-in to cast Blind and that's all. Does what Baron's Chapeau does but more cheaply and no drawbacks.
30	Legionnaire's Circlet	DEF: 10 MP +5 MND +1  +4  +4	This one is a new piece for me. Horizon changes added the MP and MND. It has DEF, it has a stat, MP and some elemental defenses. Seems like a solo piece to me - and fills the slot pretty well in that case.
30	Circe's Hat	DEF: 8 MP +6 MND +2	A competitor to the Legionnaire's Circlet. More MP and more MND, but much harder to lay your hands on. I find both interesting and would consider them.
40	Electrum Hairpin	HP -10 MP +25	Back into hairpin territory, safe and sound. What? You're saying the level 30 one is missing? Yeah, I can't find it. We have a Horn Hairpin there that doesn't do as good a job as the Silver. Who knows what they were thinking.
41	Rain Hat	MP +20 MND +2 CHR +2 Rainy Weather: Adds "Regen" effect	This is an interesting one. Hard to acquire, but gives a whopping 20MP, MND+2 and an occasional Regen effect. Very interesting solo piece.
50	Gold Hairpin	HP -12 MP +30	At this level, getting +5MP compared to the last hairpin kind of doesn't even feel good. It'll get replaced by your AF headpiece in just a few levels, so... technically you could skip this.
52	Mana Circlet	DEF: 9 MP +22	Well, here we go. DEF and a blast of MP for you. This seems like a solo piece where Rain Hat was unavailable. I don't hate it.
52	Healer's Cap	DEF: 21 MP +13 MND +4 +15 Enmity -1	Oh, yes. AF. This is so good I can't contain myself. Gives DEF, gives MP, gives MND (four of it!) and Enmity-1. God. Not to mention it looks sick. I want to bold this, like, three times.
66	Noble's Crown	DEF: 23 MP +15 MND +2 CHR +1	Ah, the Noble's set. Sadly, this piece underperforms compared to our AF hat, if you ask me. Less MND and no -Enmity stat. Skippy skip.
70	Faerie Hairpin	HP -20 MP +55	So, this is a choice. Would you rather have what the AF hat gives, or this? For raw MP, this wins. For all-round and utility, the Hat wins. I lean toward the Hat myself, but this is an interesting piece nonetheless. ENM drop.

Body

Level	Name	Stats	Comment
Bodygear. The argument is that this is the most important piece. For some sessions of the game, it is. At the start, not so much. But they house some powerful effects and we should take advantage of them. The thing to watch out for is when headgear is removed as an effect of the body piece, and one should calculate the loss of the head piece into the stats of the body piece to check if it's still worthwhile.
1	Robe	DEF: 3	We start with the basics. At low investment and you already look White Mage-y.
8	Tunic	Cannot Equip Headgear DEF: 9	You potentially pay for this with MP. Five, if you've got your copper hairpin. So what's the upside? The DEF. 9. Not bad.
10	Royal Footman's Tunic	Cannot Equip Headgear DEF: 12 AGI +1 INT +1	You potentially pay for this with MP. Brass Hairpin gives 10. I tend to say the MP is worth it.
11	Doublet	DEF: 10	Standard choice for Dunes-worthy defense.
19	Priest's Robe	DEF: 14 MND +1 +2	An upgrade, now giving MND. Pricier than I expected. Makes this a luxury piece in my book.
20	Baron's Saio	DEF: 15 INT +1 MND +1	As with the rest of the Baron's set, this is luxury. In this case get INT along with the MND.
29	Seer's Tunic	DEF: 18 MP +8 MP recovered while healing +1	This is a really good piece. Giving 8MP isn't nothing, and a flat MPH+1 without drawback? Use it when you get it and keep it as a swap in piece for rests until lategame, honestly.
33	Savage Separates	DEF: 18 HP +32 STR +1 CHR +1	The Savage set is our RSE. Sadly, our body piece just isn't good for us. We get better in our other slots, I swear.
35	Bishop's Robe	DEF: 22 MP +3 MND +2 +3	Not a needed piece in any sense of the word. The use I see for it is to swap in during enfeeble casts, the MND helping out there. The reason is the low MP stat.
40	Royal Squire's Robe	DEF: 26 MP +10 INT +1 MND +1	This, however keeps the MP. We lose the MPH, but gain both MND and INT. I like it.
40	Combat Caster's Cloak	Cannot Equip Headgear DEF: 32 STR +2 INT +2 MND -2	Perfect example of the Cannot Equip Headgear downside. I don't think this has enough upside to make you skip the 25MP from the Electrum Hairpin.
58	Healer's Bliaut	DEF: 40 MP +25 +10 Enfeebling Magic skill +10 Enmity -4	Here we go. A piece that trumps those before it. More MP, Enfeebling magic skill and a whopping -4 to Enmity. No enfeebling swapping needed - the +skill makes sure of that.
59	Vermillion Cloak	Cannot Equip Headgear DEF: 46 MP +10 MP +1% Evasion -10 Adds "Refresh" effect	Okay, so what happens here is that we gain a Refresh effect. That's all this is about. It's well pricy, so skipping I'd say is the norm. The 10MP and 1%MP just cover up the hairpin. We lose the MND and Enmity-1 from our AF hat. Acceptable losses.
68	Noble's Tunic	DEF: 40 MP +17 Adds "Refresh" effect "Cure" potency +10%	This, on the other hand, is the best of both, or all, worlds. Cheap because crafters attempt to HQ it, gives that Refresh, gives Cure Potency which we can't get enough of, and we're allowed to wear our AF hat again. Some MP too, to boot. A no brainer, get this.
68	Blessed Bliaut	DEF: 41 MP +7% MND +5 Enhances elemental resistance spells Enmity -5	So which do you prefer, Refresh and Cure Potency or massive MP, MND and -Enmity? It's up to you. I lean toward the Noble's Tunic myself, but this is in competition. Either choice does wonderful things for us.
72	Errant Houppelande	DEF: 42 STR -7 DEX -7 VIT -7 AGI -7 INT +10 MND +10 CHR +10 Enmity -3 MP recovered while healing +5	So which do you prefer for your main piece, Refresh and Cure Potency or massive MP, MND and -Enmity? It's up to you. I lean toward the Noble's Tunic myself, but this is in competition. If we decide to stick to the Noble's Tunic, keep this and swap it in. +10 to INT and MND is no joke. 5MPH is not bad either.

Hands

Level	Name	Stats	Comment
Hands. The third of the Big Five. We get MP and stats from these, in many different forms. These start out a little weak and then absolutely blow up by the end. It's crazy.
1	Cuffs	DEF: 1	What can you do? Starting gloves.
8	Mitts	DEF: 2	Do you need this? Kind of not, but this is what there is to work with.
11	Gloves	DEF: 3	More skippable stuff.
11	Zealot's Mitts	DEF: 3 MP +5 INT -2 MND 3	Really really good for when it arrives. Super pricy to boot. If you can get your hands on these, do. You're free to skip. Don't forget to swap out for Blind casts.
14	Battle Gloves	DEF: 4 Accuracy +3 Evasion +3	An option for the whacky White Mage who solos while hitting things.
20	Baron's Cuffs	DEF: 6 MP +4 MND +1	This Baron's piece actually taunts a little bit, if you decide against it. I did, and 4MP and extra MND probably help in these levels.
27	Devotee's Mitts	DEF: 5 MP +8 INT -4 MND 5	Upgraded Zealot's Mitts. I never played with these and I wish I had. They look fantastic. MND+5? Sign me up. The same swapout strategy as for Zealot's Mitts applies. Otherwise the INT hit doesn't bother us.
27	Savage Gauntlets	DEF: 6 MP +16 VIT +4 MND +2	Our RSE comes in clutch here. This is what I used until AF. I'd say roughly equal in power to the Devotee's Mitts, with more MP but less MND. You could keep these on by default and swap in the other for enfeebles, if you want to min-max it.
50	Ivory Mitts	DEF: 9 MP +12 DEX -2 MND +5	It takes until level 50 for something to even come close to the previous two pieces. Because it's a marginal upgrade, I'd say you're welcome to skip, but if you can shell out the cost, do it.
60	Healer's Mitts	DEF: 14 MP +10 STR +5 Healing Magic skill +15 Enmity -4	Oh, hello. I told you our AF was good. This is good. MP, Healing Magic Skill and -Enmity. The STR is the only thing that stands out as odd - but it's for the whacking White Mage I guess?
67	Noble's Mitts	DEF: 16 MP +12 DEX +2 CHR +1	Hello Noble's Set, good to see you here. Now step aside. This is dwarfed by the last two pieces in a dramatic way. I don't see the point in getting this at all.
72	Errant Cuffs	DEF: 20 HP -20 MP +20 INT +5 Enmity -2	An interesting piece, if you ask me. Definitely has a place in Blind Enfeebling. I think I prefer AF over this in most situations, though.

Legs

Level	Name	Stats	Comment
Legs. I think these have strength comparable to the Body slot. Expect good things here. I will provide.
Slops	1	DEF: 2	Can't get any more basic than this.
Slacks	8	DEF: 5	Let's improve on the basic.
Freesword's Slops	10	DEF: 3 MP +5	We have Horizon to thank for that extra MP and we take it open-handed. These are great for what they do.
Federation Slops	15	DEF: 5 MP +6	A small upgrade if you can be bothered. While nice, it's not a big deal.
Baron's Slops	20	DEF: 11 MP recovered while healing +1	This time the Baron's set brings us something nice. MPH is nice and you could keep this and swap in for when you rest for a long time. Skippable, because of the price.
Seer's Slacks	29	DEF: 12 MP +9 INT +1	Here we go. From the Freesword's and Federation legs, we're still not twice the MP bonus, but we've added INT which has a use.
Savage Loincloth	31	DEF: 12 MP +32 VIT +1	Oh, sweet Altana, the MP buff here is absolutely crazy. Nuts. Bananas. Off-the-hook. Ridiculous. Forget doubling, we more than triple what the last piece gave us. First and last time that'll ever happen. Get these and use them, they're unbelievable.
Healer's Pantaloons	56	DEF: 28 MP +15 VIT +3 Divine Magic skill +15 Enmity -1	It's our AF again. We sacrifice over 15MP for double the DEF, some VIT, Divine Magic Skill and Enmity-1. It is worth it, but not by as wide a margin as intended, I'm pretty sure.
Druid's Slops	64	DEF: 24 Healing Magic Skill +5 Elemental Magic Skill +5	Curiosity piece. If you ever were to max Healing Magic Skill as much as possible, this is where you'd go. They're not better than AF or the godly piece before that.
Noble's Slacks	68	DEF: 30 MP +17 VIT +2 CHR +1	Again the Noble's Set finds itself beat. We wish this was better, we really do. It just isn't.
Blessed Trousers	70	DEF: 32 MP +25 MND +6 Haste +3% Enmity -5	Oh dear. This is a juicy pair of trousers. Good MP, Excellelent MND, some Haste (!!!) and a juicy Enmity-5. Yeah, best piece yet, no doubt about it.
Errant Slops	72	DEF: 38 STR -5 DEX -5 VIT -5 AGI -5 INT +7 MND +7 CHR +7 Enmity -3	My, oh my, the stats on this. It gives a lot of what we care about, MND, INT and -Enmity. The negatives to other stats don't really matter. But where's the MP? Nowhere. And that makes this a choice instead of a shoo-in.

Feet

Level	Name	Stats	Comment
Feet. I was very much expecting more from this slot. It's a Big Five! But no. These items are all fairly weak, but don't skimp! Anything they do, we want.
1	Ash Clogs	DEF: 1	Basic basic.
8	Solea	DEF: 2	Improve on the basic.
8	Gaiters	DEF: 3	Last improvement on the basic, I swear.
20	Baron's Pigaches	DEF: 5 MP +3	Look! A non-plain piece! I think I couldn't find an entry of this on the AH. That's how rare this is.
20	Mage's Sandals	DEF: 5 MP +3 AGI +1	Another non-plain piece, very similar to Baron's. But it's available. So I'd recommend this.
29	Seer's Pumps	DEF: 6 MP +4 MND +1	Seer's set helps out. We like MP and we like MND.
52	Healer's Duckbills	DEF: 12 MP +20 INT +3 Spell interruption rate down 20%	Like all AF pieces we have, this is great. But the bump up from pieces before this is massive. How about getting five times as much MP as for the last piece? You've got it. Three times as much in a stat? Wrong stat, but still! And then spell interruption reduction, which can be handy. Get them, they're good.
67	Noble's Pumps	DEF: 14 MP +12 AGI +2 CHR +1	Noble's set comes in and tries to be useful. Doesn't beat AF. Leave this one be.
70	Blessed Pumps	DEF: 14 MP +17 MND +3 Haste +2% Enmity -4	What a piece. Gives MP, gives MND, and Haste (!), and -Enmity. Love it. It's really good.
72	Blessed Pumps	DEF: 18 HP -20 MP +20 MND +5 Enmity -2	Slightly more MP, more MND, but less -Enmity. I think Blessed Pumps might just win out, here, but this would do in a pinch.
75	Rostrum Pumps	DEF: 20 HP -30 MP +30 INT +3 MND +3 Enhances "Fast Cast" effect	Relatively easy to acquire and could potentially replace Blessed Pumps, it depends a bit on your mood. Apparently people get out to kill the NM relatively often, so tag along and snag one.

Waist

Level	Name	Stats	Comment
Waist. This is a slot that doesn't have a lot going on for it. There are pieces here that I like, but I will admit to keeping the first piece to well after AF.
14	Friar's Rope	DEF: 2 MP +5 MND +1 +2 +2	This is questable and it's a nice piece. I kept this past AF and I didn't bother checking if there were better pieces. It's MP and MND. We like.
40	Qiqirn Sash	DEF: 4 MP +12 MP recovered while healing +2	This is very much a desirable piece and a very reasonable price. MP and MPH are premium stats for us so we love this.
60	Penitent's Rope	DEF: 4 HP -20 INT +5 MND +5 Enmity -3	And here we have the upgrade. Well outside my own budget, though. It's definitely worth it for someone with the cash.
71	Hierarch Belt	DEF: 3 MP +48 HP recovered while healing +2 MP recovered while healing +2	Have all the MP in the world with this massive boost. Some MPH. Why not?

Back

Level	Name	Stats	Comment
Back. I was going to write about this slot being lackluster and boring. That's wrong. What this slot is is bananas. You can find the occasional upgrade for low investment, or you can shell out big-time. Very wide price ranges. The back piece basically reveals your budget. I'll be honest and say I didn't use most of these. Bolded here means it follows the general strategy. You decide whether your budget covers it.
1	Cape	DEF: 1	Start with the basic thing and work your way up.
10	Mist Silk Cape	DEF: 3 MND +1 +3	Um. Hello? A stat already? Crazy thing, this.
30	Wizard's Mantle	DEF: 2 Latent Effect: MP Recovered While Healing+1	A reasonable use of our Black Mage subjob. Even though it does almost nothing, it does something. Swap in during rest for quite a while at the very least?
30	White Cape	DEF: 3 MND +2	Now we finally upgrade our level 10 piece and it's even the right colour. I'd put this in as a swap-in at the very least.
39	Tundra Mantle	DEF: 4 MP +5 +5 +5	It's not so easy to get MP in this slot. Every little bit helps, so if you decide this is worth it, go for it.
42	Lucent Cape	DEF: 5 HP +7 MP +7 CHR +3	Similar to the last one. A bit MP in the slot, nothing fancy. Still seems good, though. I'd absolutely let price decide which one to get, here.
43	Red Cape	DEF: 4 INT +2 MND +2	Now we get both MND and INT. That's what improves this over White Cape, but it's not very necessary. Go for it if you like it.
43	Aurora Mantle	DEF: 5 MP +10 +7 +7	These last four levels have been pretty stacked with goodies. Here's a solid MP boost and, like the Lucent Cape, that's what we want it for. As with the last pieces that gave MP, if you have to skip for money reasons, I totally get it.
50	Esoteric Mantle	DEF: 2 MP +7 Enmity -1 +7	This, on the other hand, stands out as a true recommend. -Enmity is a relatively rare stat, and in a slot we don't use for that much else? Sign me up.
51	Amity Cape	Enmity -3	This, on the other hand, stands out as a true recommend. -Enmity is a relatively rare stat, and in a slot we don't use for that much else? I like this a lot. I could absolutely use this over the MP giving mantles, if I had access.
60	Sapient Cape	DEF: 4 INT +2 MND +2	If we couldn't get these stats before, maybe we can get them now. If the lower level one is cheaper I wouldn't really know why this exists.
60	Intensifying Cape	DEF: 5 HP +30 MP +30	Bam. Wow. After struggling to scrape even 10MP together, here's a piece with 30. It does come from Assault, but I'd say play, play, and play some more. Good piece.
66	Peace Cape	Enmity -4	This number is staggering. I would almost consider swapping this in for Curaga casts like this. If you ever need to absolutely stack -Enmity, keep this in mind.
68	Blue Cape	DEF: 6 MP +15 -10 +5 +5 +5 -10 +5 +5 +5 Converts 15 HP to MP	Converting HP to MP is basically MP for us at this stage. And 15 is a good value, if Intensifying Cape didn't just show up and give double. Good secondary option.
71	Rainbow Cape	DEF: 7 HP +9 MP +9 INT +3 MND +3 CHR +3	A combination of the stat-giving and MP-giving pieces. I think this is better than the others if you don't have an Intensifying Cape.
73	Errant Cape	DEF: 9 MP +30 Enmity -5	And here's the best -Enmity I've ever seen on a piece. With a blob of MP to use. This is where it's at. Get this. It's so, so good.

Jewellry. In these we look for MP, MND and INT. Not so much defense or other stats.

Neck

Level	Name	Stats	Comment
Neck. I've used Justice Badge my entire playthrough. Nobody said a word. And hey, my enfeebles stuck! Now that I've made this list I know exactly what I'd like to have done differently. Some items in here are very expensive, but I'll recommend based on stats. Use your discretion.
7	Justice Badge	DEF: 1 MND +3	Easy quest, do it. It's good. Not much more to say.
10	Republican Bronze Medal	MP +5	This is already better, I think. MP is better than MND when just regularly curing. My Justice Badge should've been a swap-in from this level on.
20	Black Neckerchief	DEF: 2 INT +1 +3	Swap in for Blind - but your Black Mage, which I'm sure you're leveling might like this.
26	Holy Phial	DEF: 3 MP +9 MND +3	Pricy option number one. It's really good. If you can get it, I'd get it.
38	Spirit Torque	MP +10 Evasion +5	Pricy option number two. MP is relatively rare, and here we have some delicious Evasion to go with it.
40	Mohbwa Scarf	DEF: 1 MP +5 INT +1	A cheap option, finally. It improves on the Bronze Medal, but only slightly.
48	Promise Badge	DEF: 3 HP +10 MND +5	Majorly expensive pain-in-the-ass option. Oh but it's quested. So just do the quest and get this. It's a better Justice Badge basically. Definite swap in for enfeebles.
50	Beak Necklace	DEF: 4 MP +20 MP recovered while healing +1	And suddenly MP isn't a problem for this slot anymore. This ought to be your basic piece and everything else is swap in for enfeebles.
50	Ajari Necklace	AGI +2 MND +6	Suppose you just wanted a piece that's cheap with massive MND. This is that piece.
60	Grandiose Chain	HP +10 MP +10 HP recovered while healing +2 MP recovered while healing +2	I like MPH. Resting quickly is good. The rest of the world agrees, so this is expensive. Assault or skip.
65	Enfeebling Torque	+5 Enfeebling Magic Skill +7	So this is an interesting piece. It's expensive. It has to be a boss-killing sort of thing because it's just a swap-in piece otherwise. I think mechanically, this skill has no ceiling, so it's never bad.
65	Healing Torque	+5 Healing Magic Skill +7	This one's cheap. Why would that be? I think it's that Healing skill when capped will just reach heal cap, so any more skill you add with gear won't do you any good. I don't know that for sure, but I hold off on recommending it. If I were certain we never reached a cap, this would see a recommendation - especially because it is cheap.

Earrings

Level	Name	Stats	Comment
Earrings. These tend to give elemental defenses and other random stats. I did go through the list and pick out what I think are the keepers. Some of these are pricy as heck, so please, please budget accordingly. I don't see why we should pay several hundred thousand for, sometimes, +3MP in a slot. Earrings come in pairs, so when it's not Rare, get two.
10	Onyx Earring	MP +2 +2	The very first entry in the list. As basic as it gets and not too shabby.
17	Valor Earring	HP +3 MP +3	Seems to be an NM drop. It's really really pricy, so if you've got the funds, go crazy. I skipped and would skip again.
29	Cunning Earring	INT +1	This is a bit of a jump up. It only gives INT as well, so it's mostly for your subjob and Blind casts.
30	Magician's Earring	Latent Effect: MP +30	This is a favorite of mine. Sub Summoner, use this, and get 30MP and Refresh for your troubles. It's a bit finnicky, but fun.
30	Morion Earring	MP +4 INT +1	MP and int for us. If we've skipped until now, here's when it stops. Get these.
30	Enfeebling Earring	Enfeebling Magic Skill +3	Oh dear. Dear dear. Piglet sort of dear. Expensive as all hell, and it doesn't even do that much. I'm sure there's some purpose, and if it weren't expensive I'd recommend it but... dear. Dear, oh dear.
35	Healing Earring	Healing Magic Skill +3	Much the same. Prohibitively expensive even though I'd like it if it weren't. Oh, well.
38	Geist Earring	MP +5 MND +1	Our next call to port for needed pickups. An additional MP and this time we get MND, a stat we use for our White Mage enfeebles. We like these.
45	Astral Earring	Converts 25 HP to MP	Massive, massive money sink, this. I wish I thought it was okay to shell out money like this, but it just isn't. It is good, so your money probably isn't wasted. Much.
49	Boroka Earring	INT +1 MP recovered while healing +1	This is probably extremely tricky to get your hands on, but if you do, I think it's probably quite nice.
49	Night Earring	MP +6 +6	Technically better than Geist Earrings, but I'd understand the person who keeps the Geists over these. You choose how much you want to macro.
50	Insomnia Earring	HP +15 MP +15 Enhances "Resist Sleep" effect	Very, very expensive. But, it carries a lot of weight. 15MP just like that is not nothing.
60	Phantom Earring	MP +8 INT +1	Another upgrade in the basic department. These are solid, do their job. I like them.
65	Relaxing Earring	MP recovered while healing +2	Supposedly quested in sea, and doesn't look too bad if one goes through the trouble. MPH is good.
67	Death Earring	MP +10 +10	We get some nice MP now, truly. Finally.
75	Loquacious Earring	MP +30 Enhances "Fast Cast" effect	this is acquired by having a lot of Ancient Beastcoins. Then you just trade it. It's a gil-well, but a pretty worthwhile one.

Rings

Level	Name	Stats	Comment
Rings. Kind of similar to how earrings work, we're getting a wide variety of options at all kinds of different price ranges. They come in pairs outside Rare items here, too. Budget accordingly as these slots are the last to get absolutely right, if you ask me.
1	San d'Orian Ring	DEF: 2 STR +1 MND +1	Some people have access to this at completing their nation mission 1-3, and this is one we want from that list.
1	Bastokan Ring	HP +3 DEX +1 VIT +1	This is not as impressive, although it does give some stats. I don't hate it. It is what it is.
1	Windurstian Ring	MP +3 AGI +1 INT +1	This gives the best stat possible for us in a ring: MP. Best of the three nation rings, but the difference is quite small.
10	Saintly Ring	MND +2	Solid. Cheap. Get 'em. Ideally I guess these'd be swap-ins, but I just wore mine for a while I remember.
10	Astral Ring	Converts 25 HP to MP	We are onto a first expensive option, and it won't stop.
14	Onyx Ring	MP +2 +3	I'm kidding. These are cheap and servicable. Check for HQ here. Shouldn't be too bad.
15	Fasting Ring	HP -20 MP +10 STR +1	A one off with a peculiar way of obtaining. It's good, though, so now that I know it exists, I recommend it.
25	Carect Ring	MP +20 MND +1	Similar to the last one, this is good if you can get the NM down for it. Likely not worth camping for, but worth using if you manage to get it.
30	Tamas Ring	MP +15~30 INT +2~5 MND +2~5 Magic Accuracy +5 Enmity -5	I mean, if you have it, right? I did want to avoid the super content-required stuff. This one requires, I think, beating Zilart entirely, and is an amazing piece for us.
36	Black Ring	MP +4 +5	We are back to the safe cheaper options. I'd check for HQ prices.
40	Ether Ring	Converts 30 HP to MP	An Astral Ring in cheaper and Rare format! We do take this stat when it's offered like this, so it's a hard recommend.
40	Electrum Ring	HP -20 MP +20	Didn't know we had these, but now that I do, get them. They blow Black Rings out of the water.
40	Mana Ring	MP +15	Didn't know about this one either, and it is a servicable option for the level.
50	Medicine Ring	Latent Effect: "Cure" potency +10%	The latent effect for this one is to have less than 75% HP and less than 1000 TP. So what people do to trigger this is to equip +HP gear, which will increase your cap without healing you. It's shenanigans, but I figure you ought to know about it. Used for the most minmaxing possible in this game.
51	Serket Ring	Converts 50 HP to MP	Massive money investment. It's up to you to say whether this is worth it. I didn't get this, in case you wonder.
54	Aquamarine Ring	MND +3 +7	This is another installment in the basic stat rings. I say get this, but you choose.
54	Painite Ring	MP +6  +7	Another safe bet in the MP category if you didn't have the budget for anything else. No shame in that, get this one.
60	Demon's Ring	MP +10 HP +10 -20 +10	Another safe bet in the MP category if you didn't have the budget for anything else. No shame in that, get this one.
60	Demon's Ring	MP +10 HP +10 -20 +10	Another safe bet in the MP category if you didn't have the budget for anything else. No shame in that, get this one.
72	Star Ring	MP +20 MND +4 +9 MP recovered while healing +1	This is an amazing piece, truly rare, and truly expensive. Good luck with this one. I list it mostly to taunt. I'm taunted by it myself.
72	Diamond Ring	INT +4 +9	These give enough INT that I'll list them. Swap in for Blind casts.
72	Sapphire Ring	MND +4 +9	This gives MND, and quite a bit of it. Definite swap in for enfeebling.
72	Death Ring	MP +8 +9	This is the last that gives pure MP, and while you're very likely to replace it soon, if you still need something like this at this level, go right ahead and use this.
74	Aqua Ring	DEF: 3 STR +2 DEX -2 MND +5	Best MND ring from simple crafting and buying on AH. If you can't replace it, get it.
74	Snow Ring	DEF: 3 AGI +2 STR -2 INT +5	Best INT ring from simple crafting and buying on AH. Swap in for Blind, and if you decide not to, that's okay.

Ammunition

Level	Name	Stats	Comment
Trinkets. These are tiny things that you can accidentally throw, so don't. They give stats but cost quite a bit. Last slot to fill, I'd say, and these are the three things that I'd go for if I were you. Skipping is entirely possible.
25	Morion Tathlum	MP +1 INT +1	For a slot that gives nothing else, 1MP isn't so bad
66	Phantom Tathlum	MP +10 INT +2	And improve on it we can. Now it's 10, which is a substantial increase.
70	Hedgehog Bomb	MP +30 Enmity -1	And then loads of MP instead. This is expensive to make up for it, so. Neither of these are necessary, but they're fun.

Endgame gear

I'm not very far into this yet, but I have begun scratching the surface. I'll link some pieces I've been told are interesting and somewhat common to just give away in Dynamis runs and other places.

• Dalmatica Set: Gives a lot of converting HP to MP. Seems big.
• Rucke's Rung: A staff to cast Cure quicker and improve Regen.
• Hydra Doublet Set: Gives a lot of -Enmity and MPH. Seems fairly big, too.

Swap sets

Make macros that change gear to get the most out of the rather large selection of gear available and our big wardrobes.

Quests

Artifact armor

This is a good set overall. Three pieces give -enmity which is very useful. All pieces give +MP with MND and VIT stat bonuses acting as good supporting stats. Some RSE arguably outperform these pieces, even at level 50-60. Should you get it? Yes.
AF1	Messenger from Beyond	Very solid choice at the level you can get it, giving +MP, MND and MP while healing.
AF2	Prelude of Black and White	The +MP stat is the noteworthy one on this piece. Still Good.
AF3	Pieuje's Decision	Very good piece, giving +MP, -enmity and +Enfeebling skill. That last one really hits it home for me.
AF4	Borghertz's Healing Hands	The regular +MP and -enmity stuff here. In addition, the cap gives MND which is good, the pantaloons give VIT which is good and the last piece, the mitts, give healing magic skill. Very, very solid all around.

Teleport spells

Teleport spells are nearly always good. The quests are mostly soloable and provide a solid way of getting money, apart from just helping people out when they need it. I recommend getting all of these and no White Mage is complete without them.
Dem	Altana's Sorrow	Provides quick access to Gusgen Mines and the easy side of Valkurm Dunes.
Holla	Healing the Land	For the hard side of Valkurm Dunes and Jugner Forest. Not the most common of requests when teleporting for money. Popular during Eco-Warrior times, though.
Mea	Acting in Good Faith	Maze of Shakhrami and Buburimu Peninsula and Mhaura access.
Yhoat	Missionary Man	Useful for getting to Kazham, Temple of Uggalepih, Ifrit's Cauldron, Norg or just leveling in Elshimo generally. Somewhat but not entirely replaced by the OP warps.
Altep	The Missing Piece	Saves a LOT of time when partying in the desert.
Vahzl	Sorcery of the North	Useful mainly for doing things up in the cold north. Fei'Yin for example.

Melee

It's offbeat. I won't hold myself off for very long.